A Child Brings Us Closer
by Kerioke
Summary: Sarah finds out she is pregnant, but unsure as to how it was possible, her father and stepmother disown her claiming she is a bad influence on her younger brother Toby and a whole new life starts unfolding in front of her. LEMON in later chapters.
1. Sarah

"How could you do _that_, Sarah, I thought you of all people were better than that," John Williams lectured his fife-teen year old daughter. "I'm sorry to say I can't let you start setting bad examples for Toby…"

"I'm not trying to set bad examples for him, I don't even know how this happened," Sarah argued back.

"I'm positive you know how it happened, and that boyfriend of yours is probably responsible for it too."

Sarah stood shocked to the core as her father opened the closet and grabbed two big suitcases. He nodded up the stairs; she walked up to her room with her head down. Placing the suitcases on her bed he told her to pack what she would need most first. She looked very dejected as he walked out of the room. Falling to the floor she put her head in her hands and began to sob. When she was finally able to pull herself together she stood from her spot on the floor and walked over to her closet and began taking out all her clothes, folding them neatly before placing them in the first suitcase, then she cleared her drawers filling up the first suitcase and starting the second. She packed her favorite book, though she swore she would never have anything to do with it again. The little red leather book looked so elegant with its gold letters reading 'Labyrinth', but she knew the secret about the book and wasn't about to share it with anyone.

"Sarah, come down to dinner," Belinda called up the stairs to her step-daughter. Sarah came down and helped put the plates on the table before they brought the food from the kitchen into the dining room. As they sat down and putting food on their plates Belinda spoke again, "Sarah, it's not that we don't care about you, but we have to think about how this will reflect onto Toby."

"Where do you expect me to go? And what do you plan on doing with Toby when you want to go out," she bit out coldly.

Both John and Belinda looked at each other before giving her the answer, "Like we said, hun, we have to think about Toby's future so we are sending you to live with your Grandmother Mary, and we've hired a babysitter for Toby."

She glared at her father. "That's not fair! I'm still capable of babysitting him for a while longer on my own; I mean I've just started becoming fond of the little twerp now that I realized I was being selfish for not accepting him before." Her anger was at a boiling point by the last word. "And don't call me 'hun'"

"We are not saying you're not capable of the task, but that you are not going to be watching him anymore, now finish your dinner and go get ready to go, we leave in the morning," John said cooly.

"I'm not hungry," she snapped then got out of her chair and stalked back up to her room. She packed up a few small possessions before closing the second suitcase and placing both of them against the door. Walking over to her vanity and dried her tears then called out to her friends. "Hoggle, I need you."

A small dwarf appeared in her mirror like he was standing in front of only managed to return with a weak one. "What is de matter lil' lady," he said in a fatherly voice.

"Oh Hoggle, it's terrible! My folks are making me move out of the house and to live with my grandmother, and I don't know if I can talk to you from the mirror over there like I can here. Do you know if that's possible?"

"No, Sarah, I's not know, only de King would knows dat, I's could ask him if yous want me to," the dwarf said sadly.

Giving it a little thought she decided it was safe to let Hoggle go ask the Goblin King about the mirror. Sarah watched her friend go back to the Underground by fading back through the mirror's reflection. Tears started forming in her eyes, everything would be different now. Looking over at her digital clock she read 10:59 pm, her parents would be asleep by now; she slipped on her tennis shoes and climbed out her window into the old tree beside it then down to the ground. She ran to the park to think of some way to tell Seth about the situation, all the time unaware of the white barn owl that had appeared in her tree as she climbed down following her down the street.

"I can't believe they are doing this to me, I can still take care of Toby, disowning me like this is not going to stop me from seeing him." She was mumbling to herself as she climbed the park's large magnolia tree up to her usual perch. "And sending me to Grandmother Mary, she'll be the death of me for sure, she has all those rules because it's not 'right' with God…how am I going to tell Seth?"

"Hello, Sarah," an all too familiar British accented voice said. She looked across the branches and saw Jareth sitting there watching her, unsure of what to say to him now that he was there in the flesh…it had been so easy to tell Hoggle to speak with him rather than call for him herself. "I was told you were worried that you wouldn't be able to talk to your band of friends once you moved to your grandmother's by Hogwart…"

"Hoggle, but yes, I was wondering about that," she averted her eyes from him as she spoke.

"No, you won't be able to because your mirror was the only open connection, besides of course when the right words are used to summon me and my goblins. I only left that one open in your room because I knew you would still need the Labyrinth's creatures…" he said as he rolled a crystal along his hand. "However, I'm feeling rather generous since you trusted me enough to allow Hoggle to come ask such a favor, though it would have been even grander if you had called on me yourself."

Sarah just nodded her understanding. "I honestly didn't think you would care whether or not I needed my friends, I thought you would be angry or hate me for defeating your labyrinth."

"I don't hate you, Sarah, or I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. I was angry that you were the first to beat my labyrinth, but I had better things to worry about," he replied smoothly. Sarah looked at him curiously, unsure what he was going to do. He stopped rolling the crystal along his hands and held it firmly in his left hand; he tossed it lightly at her. She barely caught it, hesitating for only a second as she wondered why he gave it to her and wasn't too certain it wouldn't steal her away from her home. "Throw that at the mirror you want to use as your connection to the Underground and it will open the portal," he said, answering her unspoken question. "You seem frustrated about something else besides not being able to talk to your friends, care to share?"

"No, what I have to worry about is between me and my family," she said getting up from her perch and beginning her decent. Glancing up at him for a brief second she could have sworn she saw a smirk cross his face as he disappeared. "Now, to tell Seth…but how?" She ran off down the street about a block or two before coming to a large yellow Victorian house. She picked up a small pebble and threw it at the window of her boyfriend's bedroom, when the lamp light came on and the window was opened she motioned for him to come down. As he climbed down the vine covered wall she took in his appearance; his hair was unruly and dark black, he had sleep filled brown eyes that finally turned to her emerald ones with an expression that clearly said 'please explain why you woke me up in the middle of the night?' She embraced him in a tight bear hug then hesitantly pulled away.

"I'm moving," she said bluntly.

"What? Why? Where are you moving to?"

"You're going to hate me, but…I'm pregnant. And I'm moving to my Grandmother Mary's house."

"But how, we only did it once and we used protection."

"I don't know, but if I were you I wouldn't go near my house for a while, my father definitely has you a shot gun, he's furious with us. So please, tell me you will steer clear of him at all costs." Seth had a look of horror all over his face at the mention of what her dad might do to him should he come within reach. Sarah kissed him goodbye then started walking home.

Seth jogged over to her and grabbed her wrist, "When are you leaving?"

"In the morning, I'll call you when I can, but it may be a while, Grandmother Mary is very strict."


	2. Jareth

Jareth watched as Sarah talked to her boyfriend in front of the old house, he listened in on their conversation, he had known whatever had been on her mind when he had come to her earlier that evening in the park would be told to this boy. He found the new rather amusing, they seriously thought that the boy was the one who got her pregnant, but then he realized Sarah didn't seem to remember their night together as he did. Why didn't she remember their precious time together after the ballroom? He could still feel the smoothness of her creamy skin under his bare hands as he trailed them over her slender body and trailing kisses down her neck as she made little moaning sounds beneath him. He could still hear her scream his name as he brought her to heights she'd obviously never reached before though she was no longer a maiden, he basked in the glory of knowing he brought her so much pleasure.

Behind him watching the scene of her son taking the young Labyrinth Champion to his bed after spinning her around the ballroom, was the Underground's High Queen. She agreed with her son's choice in who he wanted to be his Queen and mate, but she knew it was not time for neither of them to know the weight of their love making. In one hand she held Sarah's memories from that small space of time captive in a crystal ball. In her other hand she created a second crystal ball and held it out towards her son's head and chanted a spell to pull the same memories from her son's mind and replace them with new ones. As the memories flowed into the crystal she let her tears slide down her cheeks, "I'm sorry my son, but now is not the time to remember."

He turned around to see his mother standing behind him crying softly. "Mother, what are you doing here, and why are you crying?"

"I just came to tell you that I love you my precious boy, I don't tell you often enough."

He glanced curiously at his mother but brushed it away as she embraced him only the way a mother can and cried until she let him go, then she slowly vanished from sight.

The next morning Sarah was woken from deep slumber to her stepmother beating at her door and Toby's loud crying, getting up from the bed she walked to the door and removed her bags from in front of it, then opening it to see the impatient glare from Belinda as she bounced Toby on her hip.

"Hurry up Sarah, your father doesn't have all day to take you to Mary's, and I've got to take care of Toby."

"You know Belinda, you and my father are going to be sorry you sent me away when Toby hates every new babysitter you're going to have to get him," she snipped coldly. "I'm the only one who knows ALL his favorite things…you don't even know how to put him to bed properly and you are his mother. And FYI none of them are going to be as cheap as me, have fun with that."

"You are not fit to be talking to me that way, and the babysitter we got is going to be a better example on Toby than you have been," Belinda screeched. "Now, take your bags downstairs and put them in the car, your dad is waiting for you already."

Slamming the door in Belinda's face Sarah turned back to her room and found some clothes and shoes, after dressing she grabbed the two suitcases and went out to the car where she saw her dad waiting for her. As he went to grab one of the bags she snatched it out of his reach and gave him her best stubborn face. "I don't need your help; I can take care of myself." She threw the suitcases in the trunk then walked around to the passenger side of the car.

"Sarah, stop acting like we are disowning you, because we're not. When you get your life back in order you are welcome to come back," her father said as he got in the car. They drove off leaving Belinda and Toby standing on the front porch of the old Victorian house, Toby started to cry and reach out towards the car, but as his mother tried to hush him by telling him 'Daddy will be back soon' he only cried harder.

The car ride to Grandmother Mary's was silent and the air was filled with tension. Sarah was staring out the window and in her hand she held tightly to a crystal ball, he dad kept looking sideways at her and the crystal in her hand thinking it strange the way she held it protectively or as if it brought her comfort. He was about to ask what it was when they pulled into the stone driveway and Sarah quickly got out of the car; she grabbed her bags from the trunk after slipping the crystal into her pocket. Mary came outside and immediately wrapped Sarah up in a tight hug then told her to go put the bags inside. John walked up to his mother and gave her a short hug and a forced smile.

"Mother, how have you been? I hope you don't mind letting her live here with you."

"I'm fine, John, but I must say I don't see why you think her having a baby is going to ruin Toby's future, in fact he might have someone to play with when the child gets old enough," Mary said to her oldest son. "And I don't mind letting her live with me until you see what a horrible mistake you are making by treating her like she's a whore."

"I'm not the one who made the mistake, but maybe you can talk her into getting an abortion…"

"I will do no such thing, John, you should know better than that! As a Christian woman I believe everyone should have a chance at life and an unborn child is no different."

For the next two months her father would come over and demand that Sarah have the child growing within her aborted, and every time she refused his demands he threatened her future with the child. It infuriated him that she would choose this child over him, her own father, even more so when his own mother sided with Sarah. Finally after two straight months of her son's persistence on the dark subject of abortion she let him really have a piece of her mind and told him that he didn't mind his own business and keep his obnoxious mouth shut he was going to lose the only real precious thing to him, his son. It was made perfectly clear that if he and Belinda didn't leave Sarah alone Mary would make sure Toby was taken out of his parents' custody and put within her and Sarah's care. This finally got Sarah the piece she longed for, and Mary told her not to worry about her parents from that moment on.


	3. Custody

*Author's Note* Hey loverlies, hope everyone is enjoying the story so far! Haven't mentioned it yet, buuut I do not own Labyrinth or any of its characters, however all additional characters ARE mine lol as well as the plot. In this chapter I also have a the song 'It's Been Mercy All The Way' and I'm not sure of the artist for that, but if you know of a good version of it please let me know, I'd love to hear it, this song was my favorite in my high school choir days. Thanks loves…and back to the story!

Six years later, Sarah sat in a big leather chair in the courthouse as an old man read off her favorite grandmother's last will. The woman had died during surgery after suffering a heart attack. That had been two weeks ago, she had just dropped her daughter off at school that morning when she had gotten a call from the hospital saying Mary had been emitted into the ER for a heart attack and was being taken immediately into surgery. She had gotten to the hospital as fast as she could without getting pulled over and raced down the hallways to the information booth, the nurse at the booth had told her she didn't know anything on Mary's status since she went into surgery and that Sarah would have to wait in the waiting room across the lobby with the other worried families. Around noon a male doctor came out and asked the nurse if any of Mary's family had come to the hospital, the nurse pointed Sarah out to him and he walked slowly over to her. Sarah could tell by the way the man walked and the solemn look on his face that the new he brought was not good. Four days after that the funeral was held in the local cemetery, it was a small ceremony, and it was the first time since her daughter was born she'd seen her father and stepmother. Belinda had grabbed Toby's wrist when he tried to run to his sister, she wouldn't let him go anywhere near Sarah, acting as if Sarah had a plague upon her.

"She wants the house to go to Miss Sarah Williams and her daughter Starr Williams, her late husband's hobby supplies will go to her eldest son John Williams," the old man said dryly bringing Sarah back to the present.

Sarah looked up at her father and saw the glare he was sending her way and coolly ignored it. The two had not spoken since the day Sarah made it perfectly clear that she was not going to get an abortion, that she wanted the child. The day Grandmother Mary had stood behind her and told John and Belinda that if Sarah was so much as further threatened by them she would make sure Toby was taken away from them with the claim that they were not fit to be parenting the little boy.

"What about the $300,000? Who gets that," John stated rudely.

"Two-hundred thousand dollars will go to Sarah and her daughter," the man said just as dryly as before, Sarah giving only a nod in response, but John had to grit his teeth to keep from giving an outburst. "One hundred thousand is to go to Mr. Toby Williams when he turns of the age 18 and is to be put into Sarah's hold until that time. And the last request of Mary Williams is that John Williams and Sarah Williams to get a lawyer in the case of Toby Williams custody being held three weeks from today."

"What! Sarah is not fit to have custody of my son, she can barely take care of herself," John roared.

"Mr. Williams, that is not my concern, I just read the will. Now good day to you both," the man said then left the room.

"You are not going to get custody of Toby, you don't even know how to take care of your own child the way you should," John snapped.

"I take care of Starr just fine, I can hold up on my own just fine as well. I hope Toby falls into my custody; at least I would be there for him when he needs me. You and Belinda haven't been doing a good job of putting him in good care lately," Sarah said coolly as she grabbed her purse from the back of her chair then walked out.

For the next three weeks it was an all out war between Sarah, John and Belinda for custody over Toby. Seth stood behind Sarah in the courtroom supporting her all the way much to John and Belinda's disgust. They hated the boy, and they hated Sarah even more, they were determined not to lose their child to John's first child and her boyfriend so they brought up every dark detail they could on Sarah, but each time she justified her actions.

"She is not qualified to raise two kids, much less a six and eight year old children, she doesn't even have a full time job," Belinda snapped from her seat in the courtroom.

"You're Honor, I do have a full time job, and I've been with this company for almost four years now."

"Sit down Mrs. Williams, one more outburst like that and you'll be removed from this courtroom," the judge said, then motioned for Sarah to continue her statement before Belinda had interrupted.

"As I was saying, after they kicked me out and left me at my grandmother's I kept receiving threats from them saying that if I didn't get the abortion they would disown me and take my child away from me and placing her in a foster home, when I didn't give in to them my grandmother basically told them if they couldn't accept that I wanted to have the child and keep her then they were unfit to raise Toby. Though, she did word it differently. I can prove the statement that they were unfit to raise him, seeing as I was the one who took care of him before I was disowned by them," she stated calmly.

"What do you mean by 'you took care of him' before they disowned you," her father's defender asked coolly.

"They were always going out for late night evenings to who knows where leaving me to watch Toby for hours. I usually made his dinners too, except when I was late getting home, and then my father would feed him."

"Why were you late getting home?"

"I was in high school about that time, and I was into the theatrical arts so I would come home from school and get one of my books then go out to the nearby park to act the book out. My mother was an actress, and I at the time wanted to follow in her footsteps, much to my father's fears. When I was late Belinda and I would get into one of our usual disagreements."

"What kind of disagreements did the two of you have?"

"I will admit I was a bit rebellious as a teenager, but it was mainly because I had never really learned to accept her as my new 'mother figure' after not having one since I was six years old. Our fights generally were just yelling matches, not anything more serious than that."

"Thank you, Sarah, you may step down now," the judge said when both defenders had nothing else to say. "We will take a recess till tomorrow morning at 10 sharp with the results of the jury."

That evening Sarah and Starr went to Wednesday church service with Sarah's best friend Rachel Blain; Starr was sitting out in the pews with Rachel as Sarah sang in the loft with the choir.

_Lord I thank you for your faithful mercy_

_All my footsteps have been guarded by grace_

_From this moment on my heart will praise you._

_Lord I love you, Lord I love you_

_Mercy, mercy goodness and kindness_

_Love and forgiveness, mercy_

_Mercy, it's been mercy all the way_

_It's been mercy all the way._

The choir sang the Christian hymn to a beautiful piano melody and some of the people out in the pews were even singing it too.

_You have loved me with a great compassion_

_You have spared me from the pain I deserve_

_Here's my heart oh may it bring you pleasure_

_Lord, I love you, Lord, I love you_

_Mercy, mercy goodness and kindness_

_Love and forgiveness, mercy_

_Mercy, it's been mercy all the way_

_It's been mercy all the way._

After church Sarah, Starr, and Rachel went out to eat at Moonstar's café, then went and rented movies for Starr to watch over at Rachel's house after school while Sarah was in court. They picked out 'Doobie-Doobie the Water Man', 'Veggie tales', and 'Jay Jay the Jet Plane' (only at Starr's insistence).

The courthouse was not open yet for the case, so Sarah sat outside waiting for her lawyer to arrive along with John and Belinda, who were no doubt planning something to try and sway the Jury's decision to be in their favor. Seth pulled up in his little red corvette and got out to come give her a kiss on the cheek. John and Belinda finally arrived, and Belinda was already spitting nasty comments at Sarah (who simply took them in) as she got out of the vehicle.

"Why don't you defend yourself if you can take so very good care of yourself and that wretched child of yours," she snapped coldly at her stepdaughter.

"For one, I am defending myself by not starting anything with you, and two, it doesn't help me any by yelling unnecessary comments," Sarah returned calmly.

"Why you little whore…"

"Mrs. Williams, that was uncalled for, get your hands off my client. Your lawyer should be here soon as should the judge," said Sarah's lawyer as he walked up to them.

"Thank you, Mr. Perrywinkle," Sarah said as she straightened her suit.

They waited only a few more minutes outside before the other lawyer, Ms. Xerographens, and the judge, Mr. Tweedledum arrived in the parking lot. They all headed inside to the courtroom to hear any last minute offenses from the two sides before the jury put a final decision down on who would claim custody of Toby. John and Belinda just kept throwing out claims against Sarah that they had no hard proof to back them, and letting Sarah easily contradict them. Mr. Perrywinkle got up and explained to the judge that he had personally witnessed Mrs. Williams physically assaulting Ms. Williams out in the parking lot when he was walking up, Belinda of course denied this. Finally the judge silenced them and looked towards Sarah, who had remained silent during this whole ordeal, and asked if she had anything to say in her defense or against her family.

"I have told all I can, Your Honor, I have nothing left to say."

"Ok then, let's get the Jury's decision on this case," Mr. Tweedledum said as the Jury began whispering amongst themselves.

After several agonizing minutes, "We have come to a decision, Miss Sarah Williams will have full custody of Mr. Toby Williams and in the parents' case they will have to pay $250 dollars monthly in child support." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. Sarah, Seth, and Mr. Perrywinkle shook hands, and then Sarah turned and hugged Seth in a death-like grip. She couldn't believe she'd actually won the case, the back and forth situation between her and her parents about things that had gone on in the past made her think the Jury would never side with her, yet they did. Looking over at her parents she could see the most outraged looks they were giving her from across the aisle; she turned away from them and to the judge and becoming very serious.

"You're Honor, may I ask for a police escort to take Toby to his parents' house to get his things from there?" John and Belinda glared at her viciously; the judge saw this and frowned at their behavior.

"We will send an officer with you when you take him to get his things from your family's home."

At 2:30 that afternoon Sarah went to pick Toby up from his school and got the new papers for her to sign in case they needed to contact her in case of emergencies. When they left the school to go to Toby's house they called the Judge, who told them to meet the officer at the house, but not to let Toby go inside, much less go inside herself until the officer arrived. Fortunately, the officer had already arrived by the time they drove up, and he was waiting for them beside his patrol car.

"Hello, you much be Sarah Williams, right?" She nodded an affirmative. "Roger Splanchnic, and you must be young Toby Williams?"

"Yes, Sir! I'm going to be living with my sister from now on, she said she won c..cus…custody over me."

"That's right, and I'm here to help you get your stuff without any problems interfering," Splanchnic said.

They walked up to the door and knocked, no one rushed to answer, but when the door was opened a hot-tempered Belinda stood there. She invited them in as Toby rushed past her and up to his room. Officer Splanchnic nodded thanks to Belinda as he walked by her into the house. Sarah climbed up the stairs after Toby, just at a slower pace, to go help him pack. He only had one small suitcase so she called Seth to get one of her large one and bring it to the Williams' household.

"Ok Toby, you can't pack your toys right this moment, but I promise you will get to take some today, but we need to pack your clothes first," Sarah said patting him on the head as he gave her his best pout.

Twenty minutes later the doorbell rang downstairs, John went and answered it; he gave a scowl at the sight of Seth standing there with a large suitcase in hand. He let the boy pass as he asked where Toby's room was; John to Seth up to where Sarah and Toby were waiting for him, Officer Splanchnic was guarding the door and wouldn't let the elder Mr. Williams pass into the room. For the next fifteen minutes Toby would run back and forth between his bed and the closet bringing his clothes to the bed where Sarah was sitting and folding them. After that Toby spent another ten minutes picking out and packing his favorite toys into the smaller suitcase.

"Ok Sarah, I'm ready," Toby stated as he zipped the suitcase he was sitting on to make it close easier. "But can we take Merlin with us; Momma doesn't like him that much."

"Yes, Merlin can come with us; go grab a bag of his food and his doggie dishes."

They went back downstairs Toby went to get Merlin's some food as Sarah took the suitcases to the front door and set them on the floor. She called for Merlin, who immediately came bounding down the hall towards her; she laughed at the old dog and her childhood friend. Belinda snorted in disgust as the dog licked at Sarah's face happily; Splanchnic gave her a stern look as Toby came running into the room. Toby hugged both of his parents' goodbye then took Merlin's stuff out to the car calling the dog the whole way. Sarah picked up Toby's bags and followed the boy and the dog out to the car. Seth got back into his car after bidding Sarah goodnight then sped off down the road. Sarah checked to make sure Toby was buckled in before going to her side of the car and getting in. She buckled up, and then they drove off to Rachel's house.

When they arrived at Rachel's home Sarah got a good laugh in at the sight of her daughter sprawled out on the floor asleep. She bent down placing her arms under the girl's blonde head and under her knees and picked her up.

"She was asleep before the first movie was halfway through, and that was a while ago," Rachel said as they walked back to the door. "They must have done something that insisted on being extremely active at her school."

"I'm sure they did, and knowing her she was the most active one out of all the kids," Sarah commented looking at the sleeping child. "Thanks again for watching her while I was taking care of the Toby issue."

"Anytime hun, she's such an angel," Rachel said with a dismissing gesture but earning a strange look from her friend. "What's that look for?"

"Starr, an angel, you're kidding right? She is a wild child who loves playing tricks on the people around her; I honestly don't know where she gets it." The two women giggled at the comment, Sarah opened the door with some difficulty as she said goodbye to Rachel who closed the door behind her. As she walked to car, Sarah missed the small knowing smile Rachel gave her once she turned her back. Placing Starr in the backseat and buckling her up, Sarah got into her car and headed home. When they arrived she woke her daughter up, then helped Toby take his things inside, she put him in the guest room which had a queen-sized bed with a large, decorative cedar headboard. She placed the suitcases at the foot of the bed as Toby looked around the room at everything; he opened a door to reveal a huge closet and squealed in delight. He ran across the room to the third door opening into a small bathroom.

Well, Toby I'm going to go get your sheets and covers from the hall closet," Sarah said before leaving the room. "Starr, it's your turn to pick pizza this week."

"Yay! I want sausage and four cheese," was the loud squeal from her daughter's room.

"You had better make sure Toby doesn't mind before I call, he will get to pick next week," came Sarah's amused reply from the hall closet. As she pulled sheets out of the closet she heard the two kids running downstairs to the family room, she smiled to herself. Turning around she gave a shriek and dropped all the sheets. Swooping down to pick them up, but kept a glare pointed at the intruder, "Don't do that to me, Seth, you scared the crap out of me."

"I'm sorry, the door was unlocked so I just started looking for you," he said closing the closet door behind her when she started back towards Toby's room.

"It's ok, just next time knock before you come in," she said pushing past his frame which was suddenly towering over her. He frowned in disappointment before turning and following her back into Toby's new room. Toby and Starr had already gone downstairs to prepare for dinner by picking out the movie they wanted to watch as they ate their pizza.

As Sarah began making the bed she heard Seth enter the room and softly shut the door behind him before he crossed over to where she was standing. As he wrapped his arms around her waist she stood up straight and turned around in his embrace-though against her better judgement-and gave him a light kiss on the lips, however as she went to pull back he pressed harder against her lips and deepened the kiss until she fell backwards onto the bed and falling more gracefully on top of her. At his touch something flashed through her mind; hands running over pale skin as her fingers got tangled in soft unruly hair, and a warm muscular body covering hers. Pushing Seth off of her she removed herself from the bed quickly trying to shake the strange thoughts from her head.

"What do you think you're doing? Toby or Starr could have walked in on us," she scolded him.

"They would get a jump start on what conception is and where babies come from," he replied with a mere shrug of his shoulders.

"Seth…I think you should leave, I don't want to start an argument with you tonight, I've had a rough day with my dad and Belinda in court, I don't want to add to that stress," Sarah said as she left the room going downstairs.

"Sarah, what is your problem, you've been all moody these past few weeks," Seth said following her. "And all I've done is be there for you."

"I told you I've been under a lot of stress lately…especially with John and Belinda trying to make it seem that I'm still incapable of taking care of Toby, even though I could have kept watching him the first several months of my pregnancy without help," she said as she opened the door and indicated for him to leave. He kissed her forehead and walked out to his car and left. Closing the door she walked to the kitchen and phoned in their pizza ordered for the night. The wait for the pizza was an hour so they started the movie thirty minutes before the dinner got there. "Ok you two come get your pizza and drinks.


	4. A Life and Dreams Begin

Later that night Sarah picked up her bedroom phone and called up Rachel like she did every pizza night; the girls talked mostly about the case and how Toby ended up in Sarah's custody. Rachel told how she had walked in on Starr singing the 'Doobie-Doobie the Water Man' theme song earlier that afternoon, and hinted to Sarah that she should get Starr into a choir somewhere.

_"She's got an amazing voice; you won't regret it, Sarah."_

"Oh my gosh, I nearly forgot to tell you what Seth tried to do today," Sarah said quickly. "I was getting some covers for Toby's bed and he just walked into the house and scared the living daylights out of me when I turned around to go back into the bedroom. He followed me into the room and closed the door."

_"Why did he do that, what if you had to rush down to Starr or Toby, opening the door would slow you down," _Rachel's voice said curiously through the phone.

"Well, when I stood upright after putting the bottom sheet on he put his arms around me, and when I turned around to tell him off…"

"_Never turn around in a man's arms when alone in a room, it's in the rules, something bad always happens_." Rachel was speaking a bit hysterically at this point.

"You watch too many horror movies, Rachel. Well, when I turned around he just started kissing me then pushed me down onto the bed and tried to make love to me on Toby's bed. When I got his big butt off me I screamed at him that Toby or Starr could have walked in on us. He made it sound like it was ok for a six and eight year old to see people having sex. He had the nerve to say that they would get a head start on conception."

_"Oh my god, are you serious?" _Rachel's voice was a screech now; Sarah had to pull the phone from her ear for a second. _"Sarah, you do not need a guy who thinks that, you never know what he might do to them." _

"Yea, I thought about that as well, and I think I'm going to break up with him tomorrow," she replied. "You know I'm starting to think that Seth isn't Starr's father, she doesn't look anything like him in any way, shape, or form."

_"Why don't you get a DNA test done then?"_

"I think I will, but how can I get one done without Seth knowing, because he truly believes Starr is his," Sarah questioned, though more to herself than to Rachel.

_"Don't have any idea, but tomorrow take a sick day. I'll do the same and we can go down to the hospital and see what we have to do."_

Both girls agreed to the arrangement then hung up.

On Rachel's end she hung up the phone with a thoughtful expression on her face; she was baffled by Sarah's sudden doubt about Seth's parentage to Starr. "She couldn't be remembering already, could she?"

The next day after dropping Toby and Starr at their schools Sarah met Rachel at the hospital. They checked in to the lady at the front desk; the lady told them it would be an hour before they could see a doctor, and to wait in the lobby. The hour passed by fairly quickly, and when it was Sarah's turn she got up and followed the doctor into a small room where they started discussing the process and what was needed to do the test. The doctor left the room to get supplies for drawing a small amount of blood from her; Sarah looked down to the floor and saw a little blue worm that strangely was wearing a red scarf sitting serenely in the corner of the cabinet and the wall.

"Hello, Mr. Worm, how are you and the missus?"

"Ah, Lady Sarah, you are all grown up. We have been fine; you should see the Labyrinth now days, it's much more beautiful than when you last saw it."

"I would come visit, but I've got kids to take care of now, and don't have time to visit the Labyrinth." _Plus I don't want to run into Jareth again…not too sure I'm willing to let him know I'm a mom now, he might try to steal Starr from me, and Toby too_, she thought to herself.

"Ah, well that's too bad, but when you get a moment, drop in for a spot of tea, the missus would surely love it." The worm smiled at her and gave her a little wave goodbye and disappeared through a small opening; Sarah momentarily thought she imagined the worm being there.

"Ok Miss Williams, this won't hurt but for a second, I just need to get some blood from you and your daughter and the one who is believed to be the father," said the doctor as he came back into the room and effectively snapping Sarah out of her thoughts.

"Um…I'm kind of doing this without him knowing, I don't want him to get the wrong idea if you know what I mean," she said unsurely. "Let me go tell my friend that's here with me to go get my daughter and I can do most of this today."

"Ok, but I will need to get some type of DNA sample from the male part," he told her, the odd tone in his voice not going unnoticed by Sarah as she slipped out the door with an awkward smile.

"I understand, thank you, Mr. Web."

She walked down the hall heading back towards the lobby where Rachel say patiently waiting for her to finish, "Rachel I need you to go pick up Starr and bring her back here. We are going to go ahead and get the two of our bloods drawn today."

"Ok, but you need to call the school and let them know that I'm coming to pick her up, otherwise they won't let me pull her from class," Rachel said as she picked up her keys.

Sarah dug through her purse in search of her cell phone; once she found it she dialed the school's number and got the office secretary on the line. "Mrs. Stafer, this is Sarah Williams, I am calling to inform you that I need to pick my daughter Starr Williams up from school early today. My friend Rachel Blain is on her way there now to get her from class, she has a doctor's appointment today…I'm not sure she will be returning today or not, but if she can she will be back at school." She hung up with the secretary then returned to the small room where Dr. Web was still waiting on her. It only took a minute for him to take a sample of her blood, and since it was going to be a little bit before Rachel arrived with Starr he went ahead and took her sample down to the holding room so the sample didn't get lost.

Rachel and Starr arrived back at the hospital about fifteen minutes later, and Sarah had to hold in a chuckle at Starr's messy appearance. She had markers all over her hands and arms, there was dirt on her dress, and her hair had come undone. Picking her daughter up she placed her on the table and redid her hair and dusted some of the dirt off of her dress to make her seem a little more presentable.

"You must have been coloring today," Starr nodded her head happily, Sarah gave a soft laugh. "Now, Starr, I need you to be a good girl and hold still while the doctor is here. Can you do that for me, sweetie?"

"Yes, Mommy! Can we go get ice cream when we go home?"

"If you are a good girl I'll think about it."

Starr gave a happy cheer right before Mr. Web entered the room; he smiled down at her as she quickly calmed down and became very still. As he went to draw her blood she turned her head so as not to look at the needle that soon punctured her skin; Sarah wanted to applaud her daughter's bravery at the moment. Placing a Bugs Bunny band-aid on Starr's arm Dr. Web patted the girls head gently then helped her off the table.

"Ms. Williams, if you want to keep it a secret just take something from the bathroom that he uses…Kleenex, something like that. Though it won't get as great a result as an actual blood sample, but it will give us a better idea." Sarah nodded in understandment then picked Starr up and turned and left the room.

Rachel, Sarah, and Starr went down to the ice cream parlor a few blocks away from the hospital then went out to the city park until 2:00; they left the park and headed to Pal Monté Elementary and waited for Toby to get out of school. When he came running out he was carrying a large piece of paper in his hands.

"What have you got there, Toby?"

"A picture I drew during art time," he said happily as he showed off his masterpiece. "I drew it for you, Sarah."

"How sweet of you. I know exactly where I'm going to put it so I can always see it," she smiled back at him as she took the picture from his small hands. She glanced down at it and gave a small shudder; a white owl was flying over the park near her parents' house, but in her mind all she could picture was that same owl trying to get through her bedroom window as a storm raged on behind it. Looking up she smiled at her little brother, "It's beautiful, Tobes."

"Where are you going to put it, Sarah?"

"Well, how about on the refrigerator where everybody can see what a wonderful artist you are?" She started the car and left the school and drove home.

ONE WEEK LATER…

Sarah stood in her kitchen making dinner for the three of them; she chopped up carrots and couldn't help but remember how she got the blood for Starr's DNA test from Seth, it made her smile crookedly at the thought.

_"Seth, they need the really thin slices, like this..." She grabbed the knife from him and showed him how to cut the carrot properly then handed the knife back to him. He had been getting the hang of it when Sarah suddenly yelled at Starr and Toby to stop trying to ply with the embers in the fireplace; he looked up to see what was going on, and forgot to stop cutting effectively cutting deeply into one of his fingers. When he gave a yelp of pain Sarah looked back at him with a shocked expression on her face, though she wanted to leap up with joy inside. "That's going to need stitches; we need to get to the hospital," she stated as she wrapped a rag around the injured digits to keep from getting blood on anything or anyone. "Everybody into the car, now, Toby close the fireplace up." The boy did as he was told then ran to the car with Starr. Seth got into the passenger's seat while Sarah started the car and made sure the two kids were buckled up in the back then drove quickly to the hospital. When she got to the front desk of the hospital she told the lady that she needed to Dr. Web immediately and that it HAD to be him. They only had to wait a minute before the doctor arrived and indicated them to follow him to a small room like the one Sarah had been in the day prior._

_"Ok, I need to take a little sample of your blood before I stitch this up; it's just a precautionary step, we like to make sure you don't get any infections from your cut based on what caused the injury," Mr. Web said as he let a little blood flow into a small container then closed it and told his assistant to take it to the holding room. He did the stitches and told them it would be of no charge this time._

The results for the test were due any day now, and with each passing day she was getting more and more anxious. She threw the carrots into the boiling water, and then washed her hands; the phone rang causing her to jump and hasten to dry them off with a dish towel. Running to the phone, she picked it up and greeted a little over enthusiastically.

"Hello…Oh Rachel it's just you…No, they haven't called me about the results yet…Any day now, but I am getting more nervous every day…Because I thing Seth has been hinting he wants to be more than 'mommy's boyfriend' to Starr…I don't know, but if he is her father I might consider that being an option…NO! he is not going to live with us, I'll just let him have the father-daughter relationship Starr needs in her life…Yea, I agree, hey I got to go my carrots are almost done." She hung up the phone and returned to cooking dinner while Toby and Starr watched cartoons in the den. She pulled out three plates and cups, placing carrots, mac and cheese, and chicken nuggets on each of the plates, then filling the glasses with milk. She put all the full plates on the dining table as well as the drinks, then went to fetch Toby and Starr from the den.

"Go wash your hands, and come eat you two." She went back into the kitchen to wash her own hands while the children went upstairs; when she came back into the dining room she saw Seth looking in through the window, she gave a soft snort, she had been expecting him to come while the three of them would be together. She went to the window and opened it so she could speak to him through the screen. "You've got to stop coming over and doing that, it may result in something bad happening if a neighbor sees you just looking into the window like that."

"I thought I'd see how you are doing since I haven't seen you in a couple of days," he said putting his hand on the screen. "I missed you."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Seth, you saw me yesterday, no you really need to leave because we are about to eat and I need to talk to Starr and Toby alone." With that she closed the window back before he could argue. Seth stalked off as she closed the blinds and turned to the room as the two kids walked in with goofy smiles on their faces. "What did you two do this time?"

"Nothing," they replied in unison as they sat down at the table.

"Really? So when I go up there everything is going to be completely in order the way it was before you went upstairs?" When they gave no reply she knew that they had made a water mess. "Interesting…but now I have something to ask you two. What do you think about Seth?"

"What do you mean, Mommy," Starr said with a curious look about her face.

"I don't like him, he's around too much," Toby stated bluntly; Sarah had to laugh at his serious expression.

"I don't know, Mommy, he is always nice to me, but he asks too many questions when you are not around," Starr said fidgeting with her fingers in her lap.

"What are some of the things he asks you?" She was getting somewhat alarmed by the news her daughter had just revealed.

"He asked me if I knew what my daddy looked like," the little girl replied, Sarah urging her to tell her what she told him. "I said I had never seed Daddy because he was never around."

"Does he ask you anything else?" Her hands were clenched tightly at her sides as she tried to hide the anger that was slowly seeping into her pores.

"Yes, he also asked me if I knew my Daddy's name, I told him I didn't know because you never said it around me," Starr said softly.

Sarah could see her daughter was getting upset with the talk of her father, the girl was so smart for her age, and Sarah knew that Starr longed to have a real father figure in her life. "Ok, enough of this talk, let's eat," she said cooly and they ate the rest of their meal in silence.

At 8:00 the phone rang throughout the house; Sarah was just stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around her when she heard it start ringing. She rushed to the phone that sat on her nightstand to keep it from ringing anymore and waking the sleeping children in the adjoining rooms. "Hello…Good evening Dr. Web…The results are in, oh good…What do you mean there is something odd about her blood…Yes, I can come in tomorrow morning…Ok thank you again, goodnight."

The next day she dropped off Starr and Toby at their schools then went down to the hospital to talk to Dr. Web. She was very surprised to hear the strangeness about her daughter's blood.

"Her blood basically will absorb yours, but it repels the boy's and it turns silver every time it repels the blood. I've never seen this kind of reaction with anybody else's and it's not a know blood type for your daughter either."

"I wonder what would cause that reaction," she muttered softly. Again something flashed in her mind of a night filled with passion and love making, but it was not with Seth which made no sense to her. As she tried to rationalize these thoughts she heard the doctor calling out to her trying to gain her attention again.

"Ms. Williams, your daughter is not the boy's child; I can say that with the utmost certainty."

"Really, I had started to believe the same thing because she doesn't look anything like him, she almost doesn't look like me," Sarah explained softly as she signed some paperwork. "It's just so strange." She left the hospital and went to her work at a law firm downtown. She waved a hello to her boss then sat down at her desk and went over his inventory and answering his phone calls. At noon a lady cam up to Sarah's desk explaining she had an appointment with Mr. Pluggs; Sarah asked for the lady's name so she could check his schedule.

"It's Christina Noches, I'm running a little bit behind," the woman said.

"He doesn't have any appointments today, Ms. Noches. May I ask when you scheduled this appointment?"

"Early this morning."

"Can you please go have a seat over there," she said pointing to a group of chairs a little bit away from the desk. She pushed the intercom button to Mr. Plugg's office, "Sir, there is a Christina Noches here; she said she made an appointment this morning but she is not written down anywhere."

"Oh…go ahead and send Ms. Noches in, Sarah, thank you."

She turned back towards the area the woman sat in and told her she could go in now. The woman gave her a smug smirk and straightened her dress as she walked past Sarah's desk; Sarah just rolled her eyes at the woman then returned to her work. As she worked she had to desperately try not to pay attention to the obscene noises coming from her boss' office. Alas she could not take the suffering anymore, and slammed her pen down onto the desk and pressed the intercom button again.

"Sir, I'm going to go on my lunch break now, the inventory is all done. Do you need anything while I am out?" When a breathless 'no' came through she let go of the button and got up from her desk with her purse and hurried away. She drove to the beauty shop where Rachel worked; when she walked in she saw her friend cutting a little boy's hair.

"Hey doll face, I'll be done soon, and then we can go have lunch," Rachel called across the room.

"Ok hun, Ill just wait here…"

"SARAH! Darling, you've got to let me do your hair this time, I could fix it up all pretty," a girl named Amanda said coming from the sinks. She was a 25 year old woman with brown hair and glassy brown eyes; she was petite and had never been good at keeping a steady relationship and preferred being single 80% of the time. **(Sounds like me sometimes lol) **She was Rachel and Sarah's third musketeer when they went to parties and clubs on the weekends when they could find a decent babysitter.

"Nobody touches Lady Sarah's hair except me, dearies, now get back to work," Hatie Mason said walking over to Sarah and sitting her down in a chair. "Now, Sarah, darling, what are we going to do with your hair?"

"Well, first I would like to go to lunch then we can think on what to do with my frightful hair," she laughed as Hatie pouted her full pink lips at Sarah. Rachel made 'nana' noises in the background over the fact that Sarah wanted to hang out with her first.

"Ok, but you have to promise me you'll let me fix up your hair so it will be even prettier," Hatie said as she stroked Sarah's hair lovingly before letting her stand up and walk with Rachel out the door. Sarah promised and then the two of them were out the door. As they were getting into Rachel's car they saw DeYonté the hairstylist getting out of his car and going into the shop.

"How are you doing, DeYonté," Sarah called out to him.

"Oh hey, girlfriends, I'm doing fine, how you?"

Sarah giggled at her friend remembering when she first met him: _"Oh my god, is he gay, Rachel?"…"Yes, Sarah, that's my gay co-worker, and he is a doll to work with."_ DeYonté was a bald black man, and was one of the most fashionable men she knew.

"DeYonté, sweetheart I love your outfit, that pink plaid shirt goes great with those black slacks. And oh my god are those the Hott Fashion Pink Rhinestone flip-flops," Rachel said excitedly.

"Don't you just love my style and me myself," he said blowing them a kiss.

"We love your fashion, but we love YOU more!"

They blew him a kiss back then got in the car and left for lunch. They went to the Moonlight's Café and since it was such a nice day outside, ate out on the café's deck. Sarah told Rachel what she had found out from Dr. Web earlier that morning about Starr's blood and the fact that Seth wasn't the father of her either. Rachel's made a worried expression at the mention of Starr's blood reacting like that to Seth's blood. Sarah also explained about Mr. Pluggs and Ms. Noches before she had come to the salon causing Rachel to scrunch her nose in disgust.

"They were doing what in his office," she whispered loudly. "That is so disturbing, I'm so glad I don't work there."

"Yea, lucky you, this happens with a new girl like once a month too," Sarah replied as she pushed her food away. "Let's go back to the salon; I've suddenly lost my appitite."

When they got back to the salon they were immediately ambushed by the entire staff who picked Sarah up and carried her into the shop and placed in front of Hatie's chair. DeYonté warmed the water while Amanda took her purse and the attack was on.

"You are going to knock that boyfriend of your's socks off when he sees you dearie," Hatie said cheerily.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I'll be doing it as I break up with him, because I would rather not stick around while his socks are off," Sarah said trying to make a joke. She was successful at making everyone laugh, but Hatie had to know why Sarah was breaking up with him all of a sudden. Sarah explained the situation and all the problems that they had been going through for the past two years as Hatie put the finishing touches on her hair.

"But you've been with him for seven years, six of them with Starr, it's no wonder he wants to be in the girl's life more," Amanda said curtly.

"Yes, that's true, but he's not her father and he truly believes she is, and I don't like the fact he's been interrogating my daughter behind my back to see if I've ever said anything about him being her father." She remained silent for a moment. "I don't even want to know what he will do when he finds out I did that DNA test behind his back and that he's not her father."

"True, I wouldn't either, well then all I can say is do what you have to and everything will unfold to be the way they should be," Hatie said pinning a piece of Sarah's hair up that kept falling even with hairspray trying to hold it. DeYonté had spread white and pink rhinestones throughout her pinned hair making it sparkle playfully in the light. Rachel and Sarah chatted a little more about everything that had been going on in their lives lately for another fourty-five minutes before Sarah stated she needed to get back to her office.

"Sir, I'm back. Is there anything you need done?"

"No, Ms. Williams, you can actually take the rest of the day off, I have no more appointments today," Mr. Pluggs said as he walked out of his office; he looked at her and whistled. "You must have gone to lunch with that friend of yours, umm what's her name…Rachel."

She simply nodded as she packed up her briefcase for the day; she hated when he whistled at her, it just reminded her of all the times he had tried to get her to go steady with him although she continuously told him she was off the market and had a little girl to take care of. Stuffing the last papers in her briefcase she closed it and took her leave for the second time that day; heading over to Bless Elementary to pick Starr up since her school was about to let out for the day as well, she called Rachel and told her she'd gotten off early and could pick Starr up from school. There was a long line of cars at the school, all parents picking their children up from their classes; Starr came out and was obviously looking for Rachel's car, but wasn't seeing it anywhere.

"Starr, hunny over here," she called out the open window. Starr ran to the car and climbed into the front seat and buckled up.

"What are you doing here, Mommy? Why isn't Rachel picking me up," Starr questioned while they drove to Pal Monté Elementary to pick Toby up.

"Do you not like it when I pick you up, baby girl?"

"I love it when you pick me up, it's just Rachel is the one who picks me up mostly," her daughter pointed out innocently.

Sarah laughed at her daughter's logic. When they arrived at Toby's school they saw him already waiting for his ride home on a bench in front of the school doors. Starr called out to him and he quickly came over to the car and got in; he too asked Sarah why she was the one picking them up instead of Rachel. Instead of going home like she usually would with them, she took them to the mall to shop for the rest of the afternoon.

"Sarah, how do you like this one, it's Batman!"

"You look so much like a little hero, Tobes. How about you Starr, what does your outfit look like?"

"I look like one of those nasty green things we ate the other day! I'm not getting it," Starr whined from the changing room.

"Come out here and let me see what it looks like."

"But I don't like it Mommy!"

"Starr, come out here and let me see it," she said getting a little annoyed. Starr walked out of the changing room with her arms crossed and didn't even look at her mother; Sarah had to surpress her giggle at the girl's behavior. After telling her to turn around so she could see the back of the outfit she allowed Starr to go back into the changing room and get back into her clothes. Toby quickly did the same; they bought the clothes they wanted then went home.

It was pizza night again, and it was Toby's turn to pick the type of pizza they would be ordering; Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza. They all decided on 'Casper' to watch as well, it was one of Sarah's favorite childhood movies that people still loved to watch. Once they pizza arrived they started the movie; not even fifteen minutes later the phone gave a loud obnoxious ring, sarah got up quickly to answer it-not wanting complaints from the two kids-she wasn't happy to hear Seth's voice come through the speaker.

"Seth, why do you insist upon calling when you know we will be eating…No, you can't come over tonight…I know I haven't talked to you all day…Because I wanted to have a quiet night with my brother and Starr before I told you this; I don't think we should see each other anymore," the line went quiet for a minute. "…Seth, don't make this harder than it really is, we both knew it wouldn't last forever…Yes, I loved you, but I don't think we were meant to be…Just stay away from me, Seth. Now goodnight."

She went back into the living room and was thankful the two hadn't heard any of the conversation. When the movie ended she sent Starr to the master bedroom's bathroom to take her bath and Toby to the hall bathroom. While they were taking their baths she prepared the beds for them; it was while she was fixing up Toby's bed that she found an old, yet elegant red leather book with gold letterings.

"Where did he get this, I thought I put it away so nobody could find it," she muttered to herself. The hall bathroom door creaked open alerting Sarah that Toby was done with his bath and coming to the room; she slipped the small book in her robe pocket. "Ok, Tobes, time for bed. Hurry up you have school tomorrow, and I don't care if it's just Friday, you still need your sleep."

"I know, Sarah," he said as he climbed into the bed. "Sarah, did you break up with Seth today?"

"Yes I did, now go to sleep," she said kissing his forehead then getting up and going out into the hallway, closing the door before she walked to her bedroom. "Starr, hurry up you need to go to bed."

"Ok, mommy, I'm getting out now," the girl replied.

When Starr walked out of the bathroom she was wearing her blue bubble PJs, she walked into her room with her mother following close behind. Sarah tucked her in and kissed her on the forehead then turned the lights off and shut the door. Back in her room she laid down on the bed propping herself up on the pillows; she held the little book in her hand as she traced the gold letters with her fingers. Images of her journey through the oversized maze flashed in her mind. Looking up from the book she stared into the mirror at her reflection, the Goblin King's last words ringing in her ears. _'Throw that at the mirror you want to use as your connection to the Underground and it will open the portal.' _Turning to her nightstand she laid the book down and opened the top drawer and pulled out a clear crystal. Holding it carefully in her hand she stared deeply into its clear depths wondering if what he had said was the truth. There was only one way she was going to find out; she pulled her arm back to throw it, but stopped mid swing.

"No, I can't, Starr and Toby might find out." She put the crystal back into the drawer along with the book then closed it away. She went to her closet and got out her black silk night gown, slipping her robe off she let the silk flow over her and replaced the robe, then got in bed herself.

_Blonde hair fell around her face as he placed fevered kisses along her jaw; soft moans rhythmically fell from her lips as he pushed in and out of her body. Sweat covered their bodies in a thin film making his body slick to the touch as she ran hand down his back. He held her left leg up by the back of her knee to help gain deeper penetration making her moan louder in his ear; as she felt the tightness in her abdomen building he began to quicken the pace until she finally found her release and moments later finding his own. Her hands traveling over his shoulders to his face, she looked up into his eyes…the only thing that was clear to her…beautiful mismatched irises looked back at her…_

Sarah awoke to the sound of a loud buzzing which she automatically smacked off with her blind hand. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she got up…it was 6:00 in the morning and she was still very tired from tossing and turning all night long. She wondered why she kept having dreams of events that she knew never happened, this most recent one being the oddest of them all. She had only met one person with eyes like that, the Goblin King, and she was damn sure that they had never shared such an intimate moment as her dream suggested. She walked slowly into her bathroom and turned on the shower then undressed from her sweat soaked nightgown. At 6:15 she got out and began getting ready for the day, she woke Starr and Toby up at 6:30 then went back to getting ready till she finished at 7:00. Then, she went downstairs to make some breakfast for them.

"What's for breakfast today, mommy," Starr said as she came bounding down the stairs with Toby ten minutes later.

"Eggs, bacon, and toast, here you go; eat up because we have to leave in a few minutes if you two are going to be on time for school," she said as she placed the plates in front of them. They ate quickly then Sarah piled them up into the car and drove Toby to school first then dropped Starr off before speeding off to work; she was running a bit behind today, thankfully as she reached the office she found that Mr. Pluggs had yet to arrive.

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***AN: hey loverlies, will have more Jareth in the next chapter I promise. Tell me what you think about this Seth character; do you love him or hate him?**


	5. The Truth Revealed

***AN: Welcome back Jareth! WARNING VIOLENCE in this chapter as well...**

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The day went by slowly and was incredibly tiring for her; she could barely stay awake as she signed Mr. Plugg's paperwork for him. Her boss had not shown up and he was already falling behind in his paperwork, which had been somehow placed on Sarah's desk for her to approve of after they had been read through thoroughly. This wasn't the first time this had happened either, it fact it was quite frequent, and she was just in no mood to do it today.

"That's it! I can't take this crap anymore!" She called up to the CEO's secretary, "Susan is the CEO in a meeting or busy at all this moment?"

_"No, he just finished his last appointment for the morning, and is about to head out on his lunch break. If you hurry you can catch him before he leaves." _Susan was the CEO's personal secretary and wife of two years, though you'd never guess they were a couple at the office.

Sarah walked briskly to the elevator and went up to the very top floor; when the elevator doors opened to the floor's lobby she marched across the floor into the CEO's office just as he closed his briefcase. He looked up and gave her a warm smile that she did not feel obligated to return. At her coolness he turned serious and greeted her like he would with any of his board members, though she was not one herself.

"I'm sorry to have barged in on you like this as you were about to go to lunch, Sir," she said shaking his hand and sitting in the proffered chair.

"What can I do for you, Ms. Williams?"

"Please, call me Sarah, but I am here to request that something be done about my boss Mr. Pluggs, he has put off all his paperwork and has been placing it on my desk to approve for him. The material is not mine to approve, Sir, it's stuff you hired him to take care of, I just file the documents."

"How long has this been going on, Sarah?"

"A few months now, but that is not the only reason I've requested something be done. For about six months now, he has been having random women come in 'claiming' they have an appointment with him, but they are never written down for a meeting and they are definitely not talking about anything important much less talking at all in fact."

"What do you mean by that, Sarah, dear?"

"I think you know what I mean, Sir," she said coldly as she saw the humor in his eyes.

"I do, but I wanted to see if you were willing to extend on your statement. What do you pray tell I do about these claims of yours," he said with a smirk, he knew most people didn't think this far and he wasn't ready to get rid of Mr. Pluggs just yet; he was his best employee.

"I suggest he be taken from his position in this company, or you will most definitely lose me," Sarah said then got up to walk out of the office.

"Sarah, stop! Why would you suggest I fire my best employee?"

"He's only your best worker because I do more than half of his work, without me he wouldn't last three weeks, Zac," Sarah said and got into the elevator. When she was back at her desk she began packing her stuff up and took it all down to her car.

The bell chimed as the door to the beauty salon opened, Hatie called '_We'll be right with you'_ without looking up. Amanda walked out of the backroom to go take care of the customer.

"Sarah, isn't it a bit early for your lunch break?"

"I don't have a particular time for my lunches," she smirked. "Anymore."

"What do you mean? Don't tell me you got fired," Amanda freaked.

"No, no I didn't get fired," she said. "I quite though."

"Oh my, what did you do that for, I mean you got paid well, not to mention it's a quiet job," Amanda whispered.

"Because my boss is or was a jerk and the CEO of the company is worse; true I did get paid well, but I should have been paid half of my boss' check plus mine since I did most of his work for him."

"Really now, never thought about it like that….well since you are now here, what can I do for you today?"

"I'd like to get a trim and the beauty shop's personal hair makeover before I take Rachel out to lunch again."

"It can and will be done, follow me if you would." Amanda led her to the back part of the room so she could wash her hair. When the washing process was done, they went back up to the front and found an empty station and started the trimming process. "We've Got A Beauty Shop Make-Over People!" Those who were not occupied at the moment were rushing over within a second helping, and those who had customers came once they were done with their current client. One would think that they were preparing her to become the next Queen of England the way they were preceding. By the time her hair was finished it was striking eleven on the shop's old grandfather clock; Sarah looked in the mirror and was amazed at how beautiful her hair looked in the mirror's reflection. It was pulled up into a messy bun style and had wild stray pieces hanging out of it laced with silver glitter, dark blue glitter ran throughout her hair as well; green and white rhinestones ran in and out of the curves of her hair making it shine mysteriously. She couldn't help but feel like she'd just popped into a fairytale as a nymph character; a smile spread its way across her delighted face. She paid for her unannounced appointment; though many of the girls told her not to worry about it, she refused to listen to them; then she and Rachel left and went out to lunch at the Epic Buffet. (This is/was a real restraint in Shreveport, Louisiana. I used to love going there to eat dinner.)

"So, you just quit right then and there? What was Zac's (the CEO, just in case that was kind of odd..I know I really never placed a name with him before) reply to that," Rachel said excitedly. "Was he like totally crushed, you know 'boo hoo' crushed?"

"The look on his face was priceless, but honestly didn't give him time to respond; I don't think his thought of crushed have arrived yet, but don't worry it will happen soon enough," Sarah smirked.

The girls laughed about the stories they told for the next several minutes while they finished eating their lunch, then Sarah took Rachel back to the beauty salon; she decided to go back to the house and rest for a little bit before she had to head to the schools at 2:00 to pick Starr and Toby up.

She lay down on her queen-sized bed and stared up at the ceiling until she couldn't take it anymore; she sat up and opened the nightstand drawer and grabbed the book and crystal out. She stood from the bed and faced her full-body mirror, looked at the crystal, then back at the mirror. "This had better work the way he said without taking me back to that place, or breaking my mirror." She threw the crystal at the mirror with all her strength; the silver glass shimmered then started to ripple, a wind picked up in the room, then finally settled a moment later…she walked up to the rippling mirror surface and placed her hand to the surface and was shocked to see it pass through without any resistance.

"Oh my goodness," she said as she looked at her hand that was no longer visible in awe. It was in this awestruck moment that something on the other side of the mirror grabbed her hand, another hand actually she discerned after a second, she pulled her hand back towards her quickly and bringing with it the other person. She fell backwards some and ran her lower back into the end of her bed frame; she was trapped between the bed and the other person who still help firmly to her wrist as their other one rested down on the mattress. Opening one of her eyes, she saw blonde hair that framed sharp features. Every dream she'd had the last few weeks came rushing back to her, but she just brushed them aside and blaming hormones for their appearance. "Talk about invasion of personal space."

"Sorry about that, Sarah; wasn't expecting you to pull me through like that," the Goblin King said.

"Were you trying to pull me through when you grabbed my wrist like that, or were you just trying to scare me out of my wits?"

"Not quite sure what you mean by that," he said with that smirk that drove her crazy and made her want to smack him.

Would you mind getting off me now?"

He backed away and let her stand up right; she couldn't help but feel a sense of loss of warmth when he moved away. He looked around the bedroom, noticing several pictures of Sarah and Toby, there were some with an old woman and a young blonde girl. Sarah watched him observe her room with a careful eye and began to feel slightly uncomfortable, he looked back at her and gave a small smile as he gestured to the surroundings; "I take it this is your room?"

"Yes."

"How old is your brother now?" Her alarms began to rise at the mention of her brother.

"He's eight now, and getting very tall for his age as well."

"Do you see him very often?"

"I see him every day now," he looked at her funny. "He lives with me instead of his parents."

"I see, where is he now," he asked her as he stared down into her eyes.

She glared suspiciously at him, "If you think you can steal him away from me this time, you are dead wrong, Goblin King!"

"I hadn't planned on doing such a thing, Sarah. And I don't steal children, they are wished away to me."

She studied his eyes intently for a minute then let herself relax, "He's at school."

"That's good. Who is this cute little one? I don't remember her from the last time we met."

"That's my daughter; she's six, and a handful."

He gave her a surprised look but smiled nonetheless, "So, little Sarah is a mommy now, how quaint."

She glanced over at the clock on the nightstand; it read 1:45, cursing under her breath she looked up at him again. "I have to go." He disappeared in a shower of glitter, and she ran down to her car and sped off to Pal Monté and picked up an impatient Toby then was off to Bless Elementary where Starr was waiting with the school's principal. The old woman scolded Sarah for her tardiness; Sarah just rolling her eyes while Starr and Toby giggled in the backseat.

"Do you two want to go get ice cream or pizza," Sarah said facing them.

"Yea! I want ice cream, mommy!"

"What do you want, Toby?"

"Ice Cream, I haven't had a chocolate coconut cone in a long time. Momma didn't like me eating sugar very much." Sarah laughed as she remembered her favorite ice cream combination of chocolate with coconut chunks; it was good to know she and Toby shared some strangeness when it came to food. They went to the little ice cream parlor on the corner of Holly ave. and Thorn st; afterwards Sarah took them home so they could get started on their homework and she could clean the house.

At 8:30 the phone rang, Sarah looked at the caller id and rolled her eyes when she saw who it was, but nonetheless answered the phone.

_"Sarah, before you say anything just let me explain,"_ Seth said quickly.

"What is there to explain? I told you I don't think we should see each other anymore; I don't have time for you anymore either. I have to take care of Starr and Toby now, they are my top priority."

_"I'm coming over, Sarah."_ He pulled the phone from his ear to hang it up, her voice screaming on the other end.

"No, you are not! I told you to stay away from me!" The line clicked and she knew he hadn't listened to a word she had just said. She told Toby and Starr to turn off all the downstairs lights then go up to her room. She walked around the bottom of the house and locked all the windows up tight and closed the blinds then joined the two kids upstairs. She grabbed the cordless phone on her way up the stairs and started dialing 911. A dispatch officer answered her call, and she explained the situation, they told her they would get an officer out there as soon as possible once she gave them her address. After leaving her address with the officer she hung up the phone then looked up and saw Toby and Starr starring at her by the door of her bedroom.

"Alright you two, into my room, and we have to be very quiet, ok?" The two nodded at her as they all crouched down into a dark corner of her room and held each other close. After several minutes they heard a car pull up into the driveway much too loud to be the police, then there was a loud knocking on the door; Sarah pulled Toby and Starr closer to her.

"Mommy, what's going on?" Sarah looked down at her daughter and could see the tears welling up in her eyes from the glow of the moonlight that hit them.

The front door creaked open, the noise making her jump in the silent house. "He came in…damn it, I forgot to lock the door," she mumbled fearfully.

You could hear his movements downstairs, then all went quiet; she stared at the bedroom door, but nothing happened. The front door opened once more then closed a moment later; Sarah sighed in relief, she told them to stay put for a minute as she went to open the bedroom door. She breathed out as she twisted the knob, but as she opened the door a shriek left her lips when two arms suddenly grabbed her roughly.

"Sarah, you are going to listen to me whether you like it or not; we are going to be together! Starr needs a father in her life and you are keeping that from her," Seth snapped at her. "We're going to be together, you could move in with me or I could move in with you!"

"You are not going to live in my grandmother's house and we are not going to be together!"

"Then I want custody of my daughter," he screamed pushing her against the wall.

"She's not your child," she screamed back; his hand made quick contact with her cheek and she fell to the ground next to Toby and Starr.

"Don't lie to me, Sarah, no other man has ever touched you the way I have, and they never will. Want to know why? Because, you are too scared to open yourself up to the world." He didn't notice the kids sitting in the dark corner; picked Sarah up by her shirt, she had tears running down her face and you could see a bruise forming where he hit her.

"I'm not lying, Seth, she's not your daughter. I had a DNA test done to prove it!"

"And just when did you take this test? And how did you do it without me knowing?"

"A couple of weeks ago, and how is really none of your concern."

He threw her to the ground again and proceeded to kick her once in the stomach. "I believe it is my concern, Sarah, because if she's not mine that means that you have been an unfaithful girlfriend. Do you know what happens to unfaithful girlfriends? Let me show you…" He kicked her again, this time she coughed up some blood; he leaned down and picked her up by her throat forcing her to look at him. "Have you been cheating on me, Sarah?"

She shook her head violently, "No!" He shook her and screamed liar in her face several times, all the while she clawed at his hands trying to get him to release his hold on her constricted throat. "Seth, please, stop! Stop this!"

"I can't believe I stayed with a whore like you, you lying bitch," he snarled then threw her towards the ground forcing her head to hit the bed frame rather hard on the temple. As she tried to push herself up, blood dripped down the side of her face and her vision began to blur out of focus.

Toby had taken all he could of watching his sister get beaten to a bloody pulp and stood defiantly from his hiding spot in the corner. "Leave my sister alone you jerk!"

Seth looked at the boy with murderous eyes and began to slowly advance on the quivering eight year old who somehow kept his defiant stance; hearing Sarah mumble something behind him he let his attention be drawn away from the boy again and looked back at her with amusement. "What did you say my dear, Sarah?"

"I wish the goblins would come and take you away, right now!"

"You still believe you went through that dumb made up maze, I knew I should have put you in an institution the day you told me that ridiculous story."

"Are you insinuating that she's crazy, young man," a British accented voice said behind Sarah. Sarah's head shot up when he spoke; she had almost thought he wouldn't come. He looked down at her and motioned for her to get beside the kids. She nodded and crawled over to where Toby and Starr sat and held them close to her again.

"Who the hell are you?"

Jareth just waved the boys question off, "I hate to break it to you, but Sarah is not crazy. That 'dumb made up maze' as you called it, is quite real. In fact, I believe that will be your new home," he said and tossed a crystal at Seth. It encased his body within its depths and vanished from the room altogether.

He turned to face the frightened group in front of him, and couldn't help but smile at the sight of the eight year old boy wiping his sister's tears away. The little girl looked up at him; her eyes seemed to be analyzing him as if he were some sort of experiment; finally she stood from her spot and walked over to him and held her arms up so he could lift her from the floor. As he did so he noticed her eyes were the exact copy of his, cold blue and gentle green; he balanced the child on his hip as she wrapped her tiny little arms around his neck and thanked him for saving her mommy.

"Starr, come on, let him go," Sarah said after a moment. The child released his neck and allowed him to set her back down. "Thank you, Jareth."

"You are welcome, men like that do not deserve women like you, Sarah."

She blushed and looked off to the side, then saw Starr approaching Jareth again. The little girl tugged on his sleeve, looked at her and pointed up at him, "Daddy."

Jareth and Sarah both stared at her funny; Sarah being the first to speak told her daughter that the Goblin King was not her daddy, but Starr was insistent and stamped her little foot on the floor and shook her head furiously.

"He created crystal," she snapped childishly then flicked her wrist and a little clear crystal appeared in her tiny hand. "I can do the same." Sarah pulled away from her daughter in shock; Jareth just watched the child carefully, something tugging at the back of his mind that kept saying that what the little girl said was the truth. Crouching down to the girl's level he stared intently into her eyes, trying to search her mind for something that would make all of this make sense. Sarah watched the two and couldn't help but notice the similarity between them; her dreams kept flashing in her mind coming together like a puzzle then playing out like a movie on fast forward.

"How long have you been able to do that, Starr," Jareth asked the child softly.

"Since I was four," she said as she flashed her radiant smile. "I never told mommy."

"I knew this day would eventually come; you two would realize the truth behind the child's conception." Everyone turned toward the bedroom door and saw Rachel standing there. "What happened in here anyways? And why are you bleeding, Sarah?"

"Seth…Jareth saved us though…..what are you doing here, and what do you mean 'the truth behind the child's conception'?"

"Sarah, my name is not really Rachel, it's actually Fábula," she said. "However, you can call me Rachel if you prefer of Fable…not many people call me by my name."

"High Queen, what do you mean though about the child, Sarah and I never…"

"Yes you did, Jareth you are Starr's biological father and Sarah is her mother. I removed the memories shortly after Sarah found out that she was pregnant, however I had to take her's before she had time to tell her family so ensure that our world was kept secret. I could tell that Sarah was not ready to embrace the truth of what the two of you did when you left the ballroom, so I removed your memories so both of you could move on with your lives for the time being."

Sarah sat down on the bed trying to let this new information sink in, she watched as Toby and Starr ran over to Rachel of Fable and hug her. Fable picked Starr up and told her that she and Toby could start calling her Grandmother Fable; Sarah watched on silently, her head swimming with the memoires of that night still spinning uncontrollably through her mind; she almost didn't hear Fable tell them all it was time to go home to the Underground.

"NO! Starr, Toby, and me belong here, not in the Under…" Jareth caught her as she collapsed, her face was pale as snow and blood was still slowly trickling down her face from where she hit her head on the bed.

"Are you kids ready to go?" Fable looked down at the two children who were nodding excitedly; she took their hands in hers and watched Jareth pick Sarah up princess style. "I'll take these two rascals with me, you take Lady Sarah to the Goblin Castle and we will meet you there soon." Jareth just nodded and vanished from the room. Fable did the same and all that was left in the room leaving evidence of their presense being there was a crystal surrounded by rose petals from Fable's transporting and golden glitter from Jareth's. Nobody in the neighborhood would be able to guess what had just transpired in the quiet, dark Victorian house; and the police who showed up only minutes after they vanished back to the Underground could not understand where the people went; they saw the splotches of blood that dripped across the carpeted floors but not the source of the blood.

* * *

**So what did everyone thing of this new chapter, hope it stayed interesting throughout.**


	6. Dancing in the Dark

Sarah awoke to a warm breeze brushing against her cheeks and the slightly filtered sunlight that streamed through billowing curtains; she sat up in the bed and realized she wasn't in her bedroom, much less in the Aboveground. The room she had been sleeping in was rather large and lightly furnished as to not clutter the space too much. The bed was four-posters covered with crisp white sheets and an ocean blue comforter; there was a small fireplace to her left that was framed with an oak mantle, in front of the fireplace was a small couch also made of oak, its cushion matching the comforter of the bed; beside the couch was a matching chair. Looking to her right she saw a pair of French doors that lead out to an open balcony; on the side of the door on the balcony was a matching chair that was beside the couch, she could already tell that the view from the balcony was of a large garden that was lush and green, it extended to the hedge walls of the Labyrinth as well; she had to admit that even from where she remained seated on the bed that the view was spectacular. Pushing the covers back she stood from the bed and walked over to a full-length mirror that was placed beside a dressing screen and what looked to be a walk in closet, she noticed that she was still wearing the clothes from the night before, and her hair was slightly messy from sleeping on it. Her clothes had blood drips on them from her wound on her temple and from coughing up some as well when Seth kicked her; she felt so dirty at that moment; glancing around she saw a vanity with a small collection of brushes lying atop it, she went over to it and sat down. Slowly she pulled the hundreds of bobby pins from her hair, and the Rhinestones that still managed to cling to the strands of hair they'd been placed upon, her hair fell like a glittering curtain around her face. This was how Jareth found her when he opened the door to the room, she wasn't looking up into the mirror, but more at her hands like she was deep in thought. He strode quietly across the room to stand behind her, she still didn't look up until he placed a hand on her shoulder; her head snapped up at his touch and looked at him through the mirror's surface.

"Are you ok, Sarah?"

"I was just thinking about everything that happened last night, and what Fable said about Starr. How could she take my memories like that, and then live right alongside of me impersonating a human; I trusted her, told her everything….and she never once said a word to me that she knew that Seth wasn't Starr's father. Why did it have to be last night that she told me the secret that once I realized he wasn't her dad I couldn't explain, because I didn't have the memories that had all the answers. My dad and Belinda refuse to call me family and before she was born wouldn't recognize Starr."

"Sarah, what your family thinks is not important; you've done a wonderful job of raising her without them," he said as he knelt down next to her. "Look at what you have done for her already, and what you have done for Toby as well."

"Look at what I couldn't do for my daughter; I couldn't give her the family she deserves, my family disowned us before she was born, only my grandmother supported us till the day she died. I never truly knew who her father was until my ex-boyfriend decided to beat me to death because I wouldn't be with him anymore and told him that the little girl he believed to be his for six and half years wasn't." At the mention of the night before an awkward silence descended on the two of them, only broken when a goblin maid walked in, but turned to leave with a small apology.

Jareth stopped the goblin before she could walk out the door, "Help Lady Sarah around the castle until she feels comfortable getting around herself."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The goblin bowed to her King as he walked by. The goblin rose when the door shut completely then turned to Sarah shyly. "Lady Sarah, would you like a bath now?"

"I would appreciate it," she smiled down at the shy goblin hopefully making the little goblin a little less timid towards her. The little creature walked into an adjoining room and began running the water in a bathtub the size of a large Jacuzzi. She then went back into the bedroom and opened the enormous closet and exposed a collection of gowns that ranged from simple day gowns to elegant evening wear to even formal function gowns. She picked out one of the simpler ones that was a stormy blue color with an oval collar and billowy short sleeves. Sarah walked into the bathroom and closed the door after she thanked the goblin, undressed, then sank down into the hot water that was topped with bubbles much like you tope a cupcake with frosting. "I needed this."

It seemed only like five minutes to Sarah, who dozed off as she relaxed in the water, before she heard a shriek. Her eyes flared open and saw the goblin looking at her in the most terrified expression.

"What is it?"

"I thought you drowned, Lady," the goblin said, it's voice shakey still.

"I'm sorry…what's your name by the way?"

"Firebeall, but you may call me Fi for short, Lady."

"I'm sorry Fi, I just dozed off, and I'm still a bit tired from my eventful evening. I did not mean to worry you…"

"Good, you two are getting along." Both Sarah and Firebeall jumped at the sound of Jareth's voice. Sarah immediate sank further down into the water to insure that the bubbles were covering her bare body. Firebeall sank back down into a bow as was expected of the servants when in the presence of royalty. "Firebeall, leave us."

The goblin dropped the robe she had been bringing in for her Mistress and scampered out of the room leaving Sarah alone in the bathroom with the Goblin King. Sarah glared up at the King for his intrusion while she was inappropriately dressed…or undressed to be exact. He just leaned against the white marble countertop and watched her for a second until she exploded on him for his behavior.

"Have you never heard of knocking? Is that a foreign concept to you down here in this realm?"

"I am a king; I do not have to knock to gain permission for entrance of a room."

"King or not, its common courtesy, and you would do well to learn some."

"Why must you fight me every step of the way, Sarah? It is exhausting living up to your expectations all the time."

"Well, if you had just knocked we wouldn't be in this situation right now would we? Now, can I please have some privacy so I can get dressed?"

He picked up the robe from the floor and held it out for her to put on; she looked at him as if to say 'you're kidding right?' but he merely kept the robe held out towards her but far enough that she had to leave the safety of the bubbles to put it on. When she didn't budge he sighed irritably.

"It's not like it matters anymore, Sarah. I have seen you naked, remember?"

"That may be true, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to give you a second peek." Suddenly the water began to drain from the tub at a rapid pace leaving her without a choice: it was either get out now and put the robe on or wait till the water was low enough to expose her anyways. She chose the first option and quickly rose from the water and pulled the robe around her and tied it tightly shut. His hands found themselves on her waist in an instant, and he nuzzled her neck and raining small kisses down it as well. At first she leaned into the embrace allowing him to keep going before her senses came back to her and she pushed him away. "Let's get one thing straight here, Goblin King before I lash out at you. I like my personal space, and I don't need you trying to seduce me to get in your bed."

"So I've noticed…I think I preferred when you were too young…you wouldn't be denying what your body obviously wants because you have been starving it for so long."

"How dare you! My sex life is none of your god damn business, I don't care who you are!"

"You have a lot of nerve speaking to me in such a manner, Little Sarah, maybe you forgot that it was I who saved your life last night. You are not a child anymore, the rules of the Labyrinth do not apply anymore, I could have chosen not to show up and let him harm you. So I would watch that mouth, otherwise you might get to see just how cruel I can really be."

"I'm not afraid of you, Jareth; I haven't been for a long time."

"Good because you are going to be here for a very long time. The Labyrinth is your new home; there is no going back to the Aboveground for you."

Before she could say another word a silver pigeon flew in through the window and released a letter into Jareth's hand. He opened the letter and read the contents to himself silently then when he finished handed the letter to her. She snatched the paper from his hand and slowly adverted her eyes to the paper.

_'Dearies,_

_The children and I are having such a wonderful time here at the Greenhouse Castle, so I am going to keep them with me for a week and let you two birdies to get to know each other, maybe rekindle that old flame…excuse my insinuation, Sarah. I do hope though that you two are getting along; Sarah dear, you must excuse my son sometimes cause I do know that he can be a pain in the ass, and he can be very stubborn when he doesn't get his way on everything, but he really is a gentleman under all that._

_ With much love,_

_ Fable, High Queen of the Underground'_

Sarah looked up from the letter and raised an eyebrow at the fae before her, "You know she gives you way too much credit, right?"

"I don't think she gives me enough to be honest. I'm always a gentleman."

"Hate to pop your bubble there, oh gentlemen, but coming in a lady's bathroom without knocking, and trying to woo an unwilling lady as well is not in the characteristics of a gentlemen."

"I'll forgive your ungratefulness this time, Lady Sarah so long as you agree to join me for dinner tonight."

"I'll consider it if you promise not to walk in unannounced like that again and just knock instead."

The two stared each other down for a long moment, and then Jareth smiled and held out his hand, "I promise." She shook his hand to seal the promise then promptly told him to get out so she could get dressed.

He disappeared in a shower of glitter that fell on top of her skin and made her shine in the morning light. "Show off…." She rolled her eyes and walked out into her room where Firebeall was waiting on her to help lace up the corset and her dress. She had no idea of the pain she was going to be in when she first saw the dress, now she thought she was going to die of pain and suffocation; Firebeall was doing her hair in an intricate design and showering the strands with so much glitter, the excess glitter falling down onto her shoulders and neck making her skin shine a little. The little goblin also did her makeup in smokey colors, but didn't overdo the amount still leaving a slight natural look to her as well. There was a thin line of eyeliner on her upper lid; the brightest part of her makeup was the ruby red lipstick that made her perfectly shaped lips stand out.

"There you go, Mistress, you are all ready for dinner now," Firebeall said as she looked over Sarah again to make sure there was nothing she missed; she gave a loud squeal that about scared Sarah out of her wits. "I forgot your necklace!" The goblin ran to the vanity and grabbed a diamond teardrop necklace and told Sarah to lean over so she could put it on for her; Sarah did as she was instructed and Firebeall put the necklace around her slender neck. "Now you're ready for dinner; your shoes are over there, be sure to put them on AS you leave, trust me, your feet won't hurt as much," she smiled up at her mistress. "How do you feel, Lady Sarah?"

"I can't really breathe, but other than that I'm feeling fairly well," she said as she walked to the door and slipped on the black heels. "Thank you, Fi for all your help."

"Anytime for you, Lady Sarah."

Sarah walked out into the hallway closing the bedroom door behind her; when she reached a dead end she began wishing she'd asked Fi to help her get to the dining room, she was utterly lost in a deserted hallway. As she opened her mouth to call for Jareth she heard a peculiar noise low to the ground, but headed closer to her every second. Looking down she saw a clear crystal, it did a circle around her feet then began heading back in the direction it came. Curiosity getting the best of her she followed it back down the dark hallway; she followed a good ways until she was forced to stop in front of two enormous wooden doors, the crystal was still pressing against the door attempting to go through, Sarah pushed with all her might against the doors and they slowly swung open to reveal the dining hall.

"I hope it is to your liking." Jareth was suddenly standing behind her just barely keeping himself from completely invading her personal space.

"It's beautiful," she said gaping at the room before her. There were tall white columns in which held a beautiful silver domed ceiling; the walls were mother-of-pearls color, the floor matching the walls. To her left was a small alcove that was slightly raised above the rest of the room, within this alcove was a small round table draped with black table cloth and set for two.

"Good, I was hoping you would agree," he stated as he placed her hand on his arm and escorted her to the table. He pulled her chair out for her to sit then went to the opposite chair and seated himself. Elvin servants brought out just moments after they were both seated; the food looked strange to her, but the smells it was emitting were tantalizing and made her mouth water in anticipation. The Elves placed the plates in front them then silently left them alone.

The meal was fairly silent, each afraid to strike up too deep of a conversation in fear of it ending with an awkward silence or in anger. She decided to just sip her white wine, she wasn't a big drinker, but every time she'd had a few she always ended up saying something stupid and sometimes even did something out of character for her. She was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of Jareth's voice.

"Where did you get the name Starr? It fits her perfectly."

She gave a sad smile at his last words, they had been the exact words her grandmother had said the day Starr was born. "I didn't name her, my grandmother, Mary did. She always knew Starr was special, she had a way of knowing things like that."

They continued to talk about Starr so Jareth could learn who his daughter was and what she liked as they finished their supper. After a while he stood up and walked over to her chair across the table and held out a hand to her, she slowly placed her hand in his, unsure of what he was doing. He led her to the center of the room as a slow melody began to play from an unknown source, pulling her close he began their dance. She couldn't help herself, and laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as they swayed to the song from all those years ago when they had first danced together in the ballroom; neither of the two noticed the servants bring in their dessert and leave immediately after. He felt her relax completely in his arms for the first time and couldn't hold back to small smile that crept up on his lips, how long had he waited to hold her without her pulling away from him? As the song ended she pulled slightly away so she could look up into his eyes only to realize that once she lifted her face his lips were covering hers in a soft, gentle kiss, not being able to resist the temptation any longer she kissed him back. He pulled back from her and smiled, he never imagined feeling this kind of joy again; leading them back to the table he pulled her chair out once again and then seated himself. The dessert they ate was some kind of frozen mint dish Sarah didn't find familiar but enjoyed immensely. An uneasy silence had fallen between them after the kiss, but yet both found comfort in it.

When they had finished their meals and desserts Jareth took her through the gardens, the sun just beginning to set on the horizon. He lead her through rose bushes, tulip patches, all kinds of fragranced rainbows danced at her feet, she laughed in delight and running slightly ahead of him. He watched her twirl in the mystical Moonflowers, which he later learned had immediately become her favorite throughout the whole garden. He took her back to her room, and on the way there couldn't bring himself to think of anything else besides what it would be like if Sarah were to become his queen, and how he could convince her to marry him. They reached her room, much too soon in both of their opinions; she turned to face him and bid him goodnight, he bowed to her and placed a kiss on the back of her hand, but as soon as his lips left her hand she threw herself into his arms and pressed her lips to his passionately. He was only thrown off guard for a moment before he returned her kiss with just as much intensity, pushing her against the wall allowing his body to press against hers and letting her know just how much he wanted her at that moment. Pulling away to breathe the much needed air he saw her cheeks stained with a blush; she bid him goodnight once again, he bowed once more to her then took his leave to his own bed chamber feeling much happier than he had in years.

Firebeall was waiting for her mistress when she came in; she was surprised but glad to see her liege even more cheerful than when she left the room. Though she would get annoyed when Sarah wouldn't hold still while she was getting her dress untied. Sarah slipped the dress off and slung it over the vanity chair as she walked around, actually danced around would be more appropriate, in her corset that had a flowing slip skirt attached to it. She twirled out onto the balcony with Fi chasing after her.

"Lady Sarah, you shouldn't be outside inappropriately dressed like so!"

"It's not like anyone is going to be out to see me in such attire, Fi," she replied still twirling around. She heard the small goblin give a little squeak. "Oh really, Fi, you are way too paranoid, umph…" She opened her eyes to see she was in the arms of the Goblin King again. "I'm sorry, you're Majesty."

"Firebeall, leave us," he said looking down at the goblin maid. She bowed then ran out of Sarah's room. "It is very unlady like to dance in such attire on an open balcony, dear Sarah. Though I'm willing to ignore the incident if you would honor me with another a dance and kiss," he said looking down at her in his arms.

"Is that all, I'm surprised at the mighty Goblin King being so linent on a petty moral like myself," she teased. "Though, I will agree to his terms to be forgiven of my crimes commited this night."

He smiled wolfishly then began t spin her around the balcony singing the same song to her when she was drugged by the peach during her adventure through the labyrinth. Dancing into her room again he finished the song leaning down to kiss her. He left her soon after and Firebeall returned as well helping Sarah into her nightgown and began taking her hair down. Biding Sarah goodnight she opened the door to leave.

"Goodnight, Fi and thank you for everything."


	7. It Just Keeps Going

*AN: Sorry it's such a short chapter, but there is more on the way I promise*

Sarah could feel someone's eyes watching her as she tried to sleep peacefully, but the feeling just wouldn't let up so she opened her eyes and gave a startled cry. "Firebeall, don't do that to me! You gave me a fright," she said as she sat up with a hand placed on her chest. "Who are they?"

Behind Firebeall were three young Elvin girls, probably considered teenagers to their kind; the goblin maid introduced the three as her ladies in waiting Anna, Rosemary, and Zena. All three had stunning auburn hair that was braided then wrapped around in a bun. They were slender with skin pale as the moon making them look as if they were glowing. Anna had green eyes that lacked the warmth that Sarah's own green eyes had, Zena had golden amber eyes that gave her a look of wisdom far beyond her age, and Rosemary had pale blue eyes that held a sense of innocence to them.

"Lady Sarah, we are at your command for as long as you are here in his Majesty's castle," Anna said. "My younger sisters and I have been asked to familiarize you with your wardrobe, hair and makeup, and proper dining etiquette. I will be helping you with your wardrobe, Rosemary will be doing your hair and makeup, and Zena is your teacher in dining.

As Anna spoke their names the other two girls curtseyed to her, then Anna ushered her out of the bed handing her a silk robe which she slid on and tied around her petite waist. Zena walked her over to a small table in the room where she saw food steaming; she sat her down and began her first lesson.

"Don't ever put your elbows on the table, it creates bad posture," Zena said. Sarah removed her elbows from the tabletop and placed one hand in her lap while the other hovered over the several sets of silverware. "You mustn't slouch, Lady Sarah." After a few more instructions she was allowed to eat her food, much to her delight. As she finished eating she saw Firebeall coming from the bathroom, Fi told her that her bath was prepared for her, and she thankfully left the table, Zena was a sweet girl, but all the demands that young elf brought over how to eat was exhausting. She slipped down into the bubble covered hot water and sighed in relief. She sat there for thirty minutes before Anna's voice sounded at the door.

"Lady Sarah, if you stay in there much longer you will turn into a raisin." Mumbling her complaints that she'd rather turn into a raisin than get out of the warm water just yet; she got out of the tub and wrapped a bright red towel around her body. As she opened the door to go back into the room she was pulled behind a screen just to the left of the door, Anna immediately took her towel and slipped an under dress in its place then tied a corset tightly over it. "Now, go see Rosemary for your hair and makeup then I'll pick out a dress for you to wear."

Sarah walked over to the vanity where Rosemary waited and sat down, the quiet elf girl brushed her hair then by the looks of it began to weave her dark locks into a strange style, every now and then adding a hair clip to hold the hair in place. When she finished she put in a light coat of glitter. After she finished doing Sarah's hair she began applying small amounts of makeup, keeping Sarah's natural look prominent; when she was done completely she sent Sarah back to Anna who was looking through the wardrobe as though she was looking for a particular dress. When Anna looked up at her she ordered her to do a slow turn, she did as told then Anna went back to studying the dresses.

"Ah ha! This is the one you will wear today," she said holding up a pale green dress, it was a simple dress with a square neckline and the sleeves were transparent with a bell shape. She pulled the dress over Sarah's head as if there was some kind of rush, then laced up the back within a few seconds, at the last tug on the lace to make sure the dress was secure, Sarah gave a small cry of pain, the dress was tight and slightly uncomfortable compared to anything Sarah had ever worn before. "Sorry about that, Lady Sarah, you are all finished, your shoes are right here."

A knock sounded at her door, Zena went to answer it, and standing in front of the opened door stood an awkward Hoggle. Sarah motioned for him to come in as she slipped on her slippers, he moved slowly to the center of the room. He was looking around in wonder, as though he had never seen such grandeur before, when he looked back at her he bowed but was soon engulfed in a hug. The three elves gave soft snorts of disapproval, but Sarah just looked at them pointedly, and they went about their business.

"I've missed you, Hoggle!"

"And I's miss you, lil' lady…"

"It's Lady Sarah," Anna scoffed at the dwarf.

"Ladies, could you excuse us, if I need your assistance I will call for you," Sarah said cooly, her icy gaze looking directly at Anna. The elf woman started to protest but seeing that Sarah was not backing down she just motioned for her sisters to follow her, each glaring at Hoggle as they passed. When they were gone she turned back to Hoggle, "Don't pay attention to them."

"Tis ok, but I's came to take you to His Majesty," Hoggle said. "I's must say he's been much more happy since you's returned."

"I bet he is," she said with a sly smile appearing on her face. "What have you been doing since I last talked to you?" Hoggle explained what his life had been like for the past few years, also telling how Ludo and Sir didymus were. They reached the hallway that went to Jareth's study when Hoggle finished telling his story. "So, you work in the gardens on the castle grounds now, you've done a wonderful job from what I can see from my balcony," she smiled making Hoggle blush. "I still can't believe Didymus went back to the Bog of Eternal Stench to guard that old bridge, and that Ludo has found a home in the firey's forest.

As they came upon the study door Hoggle told her he had to return to his work, telling her bye he went back down the hallway heading to the gardens. She knocked on the door, hearing Jareth call for her to come in she opened the door. He looked up to see who was disturbing him and smiled.

"Good morning, Sarah," he said walking from behind his desk to stand in front of her. "You look very beautiful today," he took in her appearance appreciatively.

"Thank you, Majesty. Hoggle mentioned that you needed to ask me something?"

"Um yes..." he mumbled as he pulled his eyes back up to meet hers. "Mother has sent an invitation to a ball she is hosting for you and the children, though she says Starr and Toby have already told her they want to attend it."

"When is it?"

"In three days," he gently took one her hands in his and placed a kiss on the back of it. "I was hoping you would be so generous as the go with me as my date, they are such dreadful events, but are even worse when you don't have good company to share them with."

Sarah stared at him bewildered by his statement for a brief moment; there was no doubt in her mind that she was going to go, she wanted to see her daughter and brother soon even though she was enjoying spending time with him alone. She gave him a reassuring smile as she wrapped her arms around his torso, "I would love to go with you to your mother's ball, it sounds like fun." He put his arms around her waist and picked her up just slightly so he could kiss her lips easily, then set her back down. She looked up into his mismatched eyes, her hands resting on his well chiseled chest; he didn't release his hold on her waist as he looked back down at here with desire beginning to fill his eyes. He wanted this woman before him like there was no tomorrow. She found herself leaning up towards him just as he was leaning down for her…


	8. Jealousy

Toby and Starr were chasing elvin children around a large fountain in the High King and Queen's private garden, the three other elves were the High Queen's nieces and nephew. (the High Queen is half elf and half fae, her sister is full elf.)

"Darling sister, is your son going to attend the ball," Enduress said to her younger sister Fable.

"Enduress, do not worry my darling Jareth will be at the ball, he would not risk his reputation as the famous Goblin King. I'm sorry your oldest son won't get his chance to say he's better obligated to rule the goblins, just because his uncle refused to attend the High King and Queen's ball," Fable smirked back as Starr came running up to her.

Enduress frowned at her sister and the child, standing up she walked back into the castle and called her children back in with her.

"Is Aunt Enduress upset Grandmother," Starr asked looking at Fable.

"Oh nothing for you to worry your beautiful little self about, she is just throwing a hissy fit because her song is incapable of getting your daddy's throne."

"When are mommy and daddy coming to see us?"

"This weekend, now we had better go get cleaned up for lunch, come on Toby," Fable called to the still playing boy. The two kids followed her back inside where their respective maids took them to their rooms to wash off the dirt before they went to eat lunch.

Glitter exploded everywhere as Jareth and Sarah appeared in his chamber; they had yet to stop their passionate kisses as he laid her down onto the large bed. Their hands were roaming wildly over each other, pulling and pushing fabric out of the way so their skin was touching. He was running kisses down her neck and collarbone making her moan in pure ecstasy and begging for more…

"I see you've finally found a mistress, my dear Jareth."

Jareth rolled quickly from Sarah's body and looked over in the direction of the intruder that dared to disturb their passion. Walking out of the shadows into the light where Sarah could finally see the woman with dark brown hair, a thick blonde piece framing her face, she had deep blue eyes, pointed ears and moonlight skin. The woman was thin and her dress fit comfortably around her curves without being trashy.

"What are you doing here, Enduress," Jareth snapped.

"Is that any way to speak to one of whom you love," she shot cooly. "Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Answer the question, Enduress or leave my castle!" Sarah looked between the two wondering if they had been past lovers, they were sure arguing that way. She was suddenly jealous of the woman before her.

"I simply came to tell you that your mother has cancelled the ball this weekend," Enduress said as sweetly as possible. "I thought you would like to know since it was such a sudden decision and would save her time from having to send out an extra notice."

"I'll believe that load of crap as soon as my mother's usual messenger brings her letter informing me herself. I don't trust a witch like you to bring such news to me."

"Jareth, darling, would you please introduce me to your young lady here, she looks terribly uncomfortable, and you are being rude."

"Her name is Sarah, she is Starr's mother and Toby's older sister," he said coldly.

"So she's the mother of your child that's residing at my sister's palace right now…interesting, this woman is mortal…so the child is only half fae, she's impure. Such a pity," she said smugly as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Rage flared within him at her words, he created a crystal and threw it with all his might at her, but just before it would have hit her she vanished, the crystal shattering against the wall. Sarah was fuming, she just couldn't believe that woman had just called her child impure, but though she was mad beyond belief she also could see the other woman's point as she stared down at the crystal shards that lay scattered across the floor then at her own hand.

"Does it matter if she's half mortal, because I'm mortal and you're fae?"

"It shouldn't matter, though you are not completely mortal anymore, you haven't been for six years," he said only slightly calmer than before.

"What exactly do you mean I'm not completely mortal anymore?"

"Well, you did give birth to my child, and since she is part fae you were given some fae characteristics when she was born," he said turning to her and pulling her close to himself again.

"Who is she, Jareth?"

"Queen Enduress, she is the Elvin queen of Pantara Forest. She's my mother's older sister," he said.

She just nodded, feeling somewhat embarrassed by her earlier thought that the two had been lovers. He told her he was going to speak to his mother at the Greenhouse Palace then kissed her softly. She watched as he transformed into an owl and fly out the window, she left the room and went to the gardens where she spotted her old friend Hoggle tending to the Moonflowers that were sparkling in the sunlight as the rays touched the water droplets.

"Good afternoon, Sarah," he said as she came into view, but then noticed the distant look in her eyes. "Are you alright, lil lady?"

"Oh hello, Hoggle, I'm sorry I was just thinking about something."

"What about," he said as they sat down on a bench. "It always helps to talk things out."

Sarah smiled at her friends logic, " I was just thinking about how well Starr will fit in here Underground only being half fae."

"When you become full fae, Sarah, you're daughter and Toby will become full fae as well, and you will be just as powerful as any other fae except for the High King and Queen of course."

"Hoggle, seriously how am I supposed to become a full fae when I'm not from here? It's not something that just happens naturally."

"By learning magic of course, and I'm sure Jareth has already told you that you've already begun your transformation when Starr was born, am I right?"

"He has, but who will teach me magic?"

"I can teach you a tiny bit of magic, but not enough," he said pulling two seeds from his pocket. "Now, what I want you to do is concentrate on the seed and think about it growing to be a bud." Sarah nodded as he gave her a seed to work with; she concentrated on the tiny seed in her hand, and after several minutes of trying to make something happen she heard Hoggle gasp. Opening her eyes she saw a tiny white bud attached to a long emerald stem lying perfectly in her palm.

"I did it, Hoggle! I did it!"

"Now, try changing the bud into a full bloomed flower," he instructed excitedly.

Once again she closed her eyes and concentrated on the bud trying to change it again. When she felt soft petals touching her hand she opened her eyes and saw a moonflower and giggled happily. She placed the flower in her hair, Hoggle smiled up at her and gave her the second seed to keep practicing with so her magic would become stronger.

"When you're ready to learn more just come down into the garden, and I will see what I can do for you, Sarah."

Sarah went exploring the castle after she left Hoggle, she was getting rather tired of getting lost every time she wanted to go somewhere in the castle without a guide. The castle was enormous and much like the Labyrinth that surrounded it outside. After a while she began to get weary from all her walking and decided to go back to her room till lunch. When she reached the privacy of her room she sat down at the vanity and began to brush out her hair; as she ran the brush through a tangle in the last lock something caught her eye behind her dressing screen, a think black line ran down the wall barely visible that she couldn't believe she'd actually seen it. Getting up from the vanity she walked over to the screen to see what was hidden behind it; upon closer inspection she found that the line was actually a door to a hidden staircase. Curiosity to know what was atop the stairs overcame her and she began her climb; the winding corridor was dark and had a strong musky smell. At the top was a single window where a beam of golden sunlight shone on a wooden door, she pulled on the large black ring that served as the knob and the door opened without a sound. The room wasn't very large, but it wasn't small either; it had a queen-sized four-poster bed that had a white canopy on it, the covers were white and black satin. A window let sunlight in from one side of the room as the white curtains were being pulled aside by silver hooks. A silver vanity chair sat looking over the scenery. The room was dusty beyond belief and smelled of the same muskiness as the corridor had. Running back down into her room she called for Firebeall as she closed the door. The little goblin came into the room looking a little flustered.

"Fi, I need cleaning supplies," she said excitedly.

"Sarah, my dear what would you need such stuff for," the goblin questioned. "You're not supposed to clean anything in the castle, his majesty wouldn't approve."

"Fi, please, I just need the supplies, Jareth won't ever know."

Firebeall just gave a defeated sigh and quickly left the room, but shortly returned with the supplies Sarah had asked for; Sarah told her that she wouldn't need any assistance from her ladies-in-waiting until dinner time. After Fi left Sarah rushed back up the hidden stairs with the supplies and got started on her new project; she spent the rest of the afternoon dusting everything off and making the space presentable. As the sun began to turn deep orange she rushed back down to her room so she could pick out her own dress before Anna had a chance to pick out something horrid and childish looking. She picked out a deep maroon dress with spaghetti straps, it had a low cute collar, but didn't show so much cleavage to be indecent, and the skirt fell straight to the floor.

"Now let's pick out your gown for this evening, Lady Sarah," Anna said as she barged into the room without so much as looking at her liege. She opened the wardrobe and began to assess the dresses within then pulled one from its place, it was white with long puffy sleeves, and had a very low 'V' neck. "Here we go simple evening gown for you Lady…"

"I've already picked my gown out, Anna, I won't need that one," Sarah said holding the maroon dress out for Anna to see.

"But that is not appropriate dinner attire!"

"And what you have is I suppose," Sarah said coldly as she eyed the white monstrosity skeptically.

"This is the attire properly worn to dinner," the elf argued.

"Ok, just so you know, I find it uncomfortable with a guy staring down my dress while I eat, so I'll take my chances with the dress _I _picked out." Sarah ended the argument with a cold look that could have frozen hell over.

Anna shoved the white gown into the wardrobe and pulled out the corset with the attached slip bottom. She helped Sarah into the clothing without a word, when she finished Rosemary did her make up in soft reds and whites. Her hair was half up in a bun and the rest fell down her back in soft curls.

"Ok Lady Sarah, you're all done here," Rosemary said letting Sarah stand from the vanity chair to admire her handiwork. Sarah took the moonflower she'd made from the vase she'd placed it in before she found the staircase, and stuck it in her hair. Rosemary giggled softly as she adjusted the stem so it wouldn't be seen. Thanking her new favorite lady-in-waiting Sarah left the room and headed for the dining hall.

"You're such a suck up, Rosemary," Anna said looking at her younger sister coldly.

"I am not, I just don't act like I'm better than her the way you do," Rosemary snapped.

"You are better than her, Rosemary; she isn't even a full fae!"

"Then why does she have a higher title than you do?"

Anna's hand struck her sister's face with a vicious crack. "How dare you! She's only got that title because she is the mother of the King's child!"

A red mark was clearly visible on Rosemary's cheek. "You're just jealous of her, so you purposefully try to intimidate her though you know you are not really getting to her. You just don't get it, the Goblin King will never look at you like he looks at Lady Sarah, and you will always be a servant!" Rosemary ended her tirade in a scream then stormed out of the room tears spilling from her eyes the moment she was out of sight.


	9. Secrets Shared

**AN: I'm sorry loverlies that it has taken me so long to post another chapter, and that this one was so short, but I wanted to get something up for all my faithful readers. It has been so encourageing to read my reviews and that it seems most everyone is enjoying the story so far, I haven't had one bad word really about it, and that really makes it worth it. Please keep them coming, and I hope I don't let anyone down by letting the story get boring, if it does let me know and I will do my absolute best to correct that problem. ENJOY!**

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Dinner had been quiet and peaceful, and boring, a pigeon had flown in soon after she entered the room, it landed on her hand and let her detach a small note from its leg. The note said that the Goblin King would not be returning that evening and that he would see her when she arrived at the Greenhouse Palace the next afternoon to prepare for the High King and Queen's ball that evening. She finished her supper quickly then went to take a walk through the gardens, enjoying the sight of the moonflowers glowing brilliantly in the rising moonlight. When she got back to her bedroom Fi helped her out of the dress; as the goblin went to hang the dress back up there was a loud crash heard from one of the rooms next to Sarah's.

"Not again," Fi sighed rolling her eyes in annoyance, Sarah looked over at her curiously. "Sarah, you must understand this since you have a sibling, even though he is considerably younger, but Rosemary and Anna they are the worst when it comes to sibling rivalry…"

"What do you mean, Fi?"

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed by now that Anna is a bit more aggressive than her sisters; she tends to take her aggression out on them, usually Rosemary. It's the whole fact that they hardly ever agree on anything, and since Anna is the oldest she thinks that her opinion is always the best."

"So they fight a lot?" Getting the unwanted answer she continued. "Does Anna hurt Rosemary?"

"Unfortunately, she does, and I end up having to take care of her for a few days," Fi said sadly. "So don't be too shocked if Rosemary is not here tomorrow or the following two days. I better go check on her before Anna has a chance to do anymore damage."

"Fi, could you bring Rosemary to my room, I'd like to speak to her if she is alright enough to come."

Fi left Sarah's room quickly and went into the one across the hall where Rosemary slept. There was shattered mirror pieces scattered across most of the floor, the young elf had a cut across her cheek and one along her arm, bruises covered her in various places and sizes. From the looks of it Rosemary had been thrown into the now ruined vanity, the mirror shattering under the pressure from her impact. Fi helped the sobbing girl stand and checked her over thoroughly before deciding she would be fine, just minor injuries that a simply healing potion could easily remedy in the hour. She told her to go to Sarah's room and that she would be in there momentarily to give her a potion to fix her up. As Rosemary left the room Fi examined the damage in the room more closely and gave a sigh, she was just grateful that this time hadn't been too serious, but still it annoyed her to have to clean up Anna's mess every time she went on a tirade. She set to work weaving a little magic around the room fixing the broken mirror and replacing the accessories that had fallen to the floor when Rosemary hit them.

"Lady Sarah, you wished to see me," Rosemary said as she saw her liege sitting by the balcony doors.

Sarah looked over at the girl, and gasped. She took flight from her chair and was at the elf's side instantly checking the cut on her face then the one on her arm. Fi came in moments later and waved her away saying that the elf's injuries were minor and she had something to fix her up proper in no time. She watched as Fi went to work on Rosemary until finally not even a scar remained on the elf's face then left the two ladies alone to talk in privacy. Once they were alone she motioned for Rosemary to come closer to her.

"I want to show you something, but you must not tell anyone else, ok?"

"Ok," Rosemary said, then picked up Sarah's robe and holding it out to her mistress. "Here's your robe, Lady Sarah."

"Seriously, I don't see why you insist that I need to wear this thing when there is not a guy in the room." She took the robe from the elf's hands and laid it on the bed and took Rosemary's hand in hers. "Now, what I wanted to show you is right over here." She led her behind the screen and opened the secret passage and dragged them through the door then closed it behind them.

"Lady Sarah, don't we need proper light?"

"Oh don't worry, I've got the light ready right here," she said as she lit a match and lighted a candle that she held in her hand.

As they climbed the staircase leaving the empty room behind Anna entered the room and called out for Sarah and Rosemary, when no answer came she walked into the empty chamber. She looked around suspiciously, seeing the robe lying on the bed she assumed that the two had taken to walking through the castle or gardens. She saw a moonflower laying gloriously on Sarah's nightstand and couldn't help but feel deep hatred towards the woman; she didn't understand how her King could love such a lowly Aboveground woman. After one more look she walked back out of the room in search of her sister and mistress.

Rosemary's mind was spinning with questions as they made their way up the staircase, she knew every room and corridor, but she hadn't heard of a secret passageway in the Queen's chamber. They reached the wooden door; Sarah opened it to reveal the old room. They walked in the door and Sarah set her candle on the nightstand while she lit some more candles that she had found earlier that day. She watched as Rosemary looked around the room in wonder.

"I found this a little before lunch time, that's why I had Firebeall tell you I wouldn't need your assistance. I was cleaning the room up until dinner time, I'm not finished though," she said with a sly smile.

"But why are you showing me this? Wouldn't you want it all to yourself, I mean it is connected to your room."

"I did, but you need it more than I do right now, so I don't mind sharing," she said. "Don't deny it because Firebeall has already told me about the fights between you and Anna."

Rosemary looked down in shame, "So she told you about the problems that conspire between my sister and me. It's funny though, she is the oldest and has the most power while I'm the middle child, yet I'm the one with the least power of the three of us; you would think she'd go after Zena first."

A horrified expression came over her as she listened to Rosemary describe her sister's power hungry antics and how she had already tried to kill her younger sisters. Anger suddenly took hold of her, a sudden flash of light and a loud cracking sound from beyond the window; they looked outside into the night sky which was now clouded over and crying. The look now dawning on Rosemary's face began to concern Sarah a little.

"What is it, Rosemary?"

"It never rains in the Underground unless a powerful person in the kingdom is angry or sad, and the King is not here. Anna is not even _that_ powerful enough to do something like that," the younger elf said.

"Then who was it?"

"I think it was you. I felt you get angry when I told you about Anna's thirst for power," Rosemary said.

"But I'm not that powerful either, I only know how to make a flower from a seed. There's no way it could have been me," she said shaking her head.

"I'll help you learn more magic if you want," Rosemary said. "It's really easy to learn."

For the next few hours Rosemary began to teach her liege some of the simpler healing and nature spells that she knew. Her mistress was a quick learner and was taking to the art of healing as if it were nothing at all.


	10. The Preposal

The next day Sarah and Rosemary rode in the royal carriage to the High King and Queen's castle for the ball that evening, Anna and Zena were left to ride in the servants' carriage with the luggage. The ride out to the Greenhouse Palace was several hours long and Rosemary had suggested that Sarah practice more magic on the way there to keep from being bored. Excited to learn more magic they set to work, Rosemary teaching her some of the more complicated spells using the elements of the world. Much to her surprise the ride didn't seem to take as long as it actually did while she kept herself busy learning the art of magic; the carriage came to a jolting stop. She slipped on her white elbow length gloves and slipped on her red shoes, Rosemary helped her straighten her red off-the-shoulder gown before the door opened revealing a young elf man holding his hand out to help her step out of the carriage safely.

"Ladies," he said respectfully as Sarah placed her hand into his and allowed him to help her down. Rosemary just nodded to the elf when it was her turn then followed her liege into the High King and Queen's palace.

Fable met Sarah in the Grand Hall; Rosemary bowed low as did Sarah, this made Fable laugh lightly. "My dear Sarah, you don't have to bow to me, I've been your best friend for way too long for you to do that. Plus, you know too many of my Aboveground dirty secrets, wouldn't want to go all queen diva on you and give you reason to use those secrets against me."

"While that may be true, I never knew you were royalty either, so I don't think those secrets really count, but then again they might be good to get the High King laughing." Fable paled for a moment, and then the two women burst into laughter. The High Queen took hold of her best friends hand and led her into the Palace and began a tour of her castle until they ended up at the chambers where Sarah was going to stay while she was visiting the castle. Fable announced that her room was right across from Jareth's and in-between Starr and Toby's rooms. The palace servants brought her luggage in only moments later, and Fable left Sarah to her own devices while she went to announce their arrival to the other guests. Rosemary came in with Anna and Zena close behind, they helped set her room up with her belongings from the luggage, then Anna and Zena left to see if the High Rulers had any need for their services for the afternoon. Rosemary stayed with Sarah and helped her pick out a dress for the ball that was quickly approaching.

After taking a very hot bath, with so many different soaps and shampoos, Sarah stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a silky cream robe, Rosemary immediately grabbed her and began working on her hair and makeup then once that was finished she helped her get dressed in a black, slightly puffy ball gown that was 'V' necked with a silver star design at the end of the 'V'. She wore long black gloves and a delicate diamond bracelet. She looked into the mirror at her reflection and loved off-the-shoulder design of the dress, it made her look elegant yet seductive at the same time. Rosemary had done her hair up halfway in a bun and the rest hanging down in loose curls, glitter shimmered through the strands making them shine softly in the light. A simple diamond teardrop necklace adorned her slender neck, and the matching earrings hanging from her lobes flirtatiously. Her makeup was a beautiful coal color, blending neatly from dark to light starting on her lower lid, and a rosy pink lipstick adorned her lips, a thin layer of gloss added for shine.

A knock sounded on the door pulling Sarah's gaze from the mirror's reflection of her and called for the person to come inside. Jareth entered through the door wearing a similar outfit to the one from her peach dream years ago, yet the one he had on now suspiciously matched the dress she was wearing at the moment. Black streaks in his long blonde mane gave him a mysterious punk rock look that gave her goose bumps. "Hello, Jareth darling."

"You're Majesty," Rosemary said as she bowed then quickly left once he acknowledged her.

"Sarah, Sarah…you look absolutely stunning," he said as he kissed her gloved hand like a proper gentlemen. "Are you ready to go down to the festivities, I can tell you the ballroom is already throbbing with life."

"Yes, I'm ready." They walked arm in arm out of her room in the direction of the ballroom; the walk down to the party was short, but she didn't mind she was just happy to spend a little time with him alone.

As they reached the ballroom Jareth told the announcer their appropriate titles to be announced as they descended the grand staircase. The man's voice carried over the room full of fae society with a rich British accent that brought everybody to an awed silence. "High Prince and King of the Goblin Kingdom, His Majesty Prince Jareth, and as his escort for the evening Lady Sarah Williams of the Aboveground."

Everybody stared as they walked gracefully down the staircase; they had all heard of the young girl who had defeated Jareth and his mysterious labyrinth years ago and that she had returned to the Underground. They all wanted to know what she looked like; many of the fae women envied not only her looks but the fact that she was the Goblin King's escort, the fae men felt the same way towards Jareth himself, even the High King envied his son for having such a lovely young lady on his arm for the evening.

"She is a beautiful thing, Fable, my dear," the High King said as he watched Sarah and his son dance on the clear floor. "You said she was beautiful for a mortal, but you didn't say she could rival a fae woman!"

"My dear, Daioh, if I had told you that you would not have believed me. You may have even dared to say I was bit crazy," Fable said in return to her husband's accusation. "I knew that you would just have to see her for yourself."

Jareth twirled Sarah around the dancefloor which was slowly filling back up with couples, the song was a slow haunting melody, and for some reason it was familiar to Sarah who kept trying to remember where it was she had heard it. A memory finally filled her head of when Toby was only five and had been visiting grandmother Mary's house for the weekend; she and him were acting out the end of 'The Three Musketeers' movie "all for one and one for all". They had started to sing the words to the theme song "All for Love" with Mary; she smiled as the memory ended and continued to dance.

"Sarah, are you alright," he said as he saw her small smile creep onto her face.

"I'm fine, just remembering something with my grandmother," she said softly. "But there is something I need to talk to you about that does concern me a little. I'm worried about Rosemary's safety."

"And why is that? She seemed perfectly fine when I left yesterday," he commented.

"I learned from Firebeall that Anna and Rosemary don't exactly agree with each other, and I don't mean in a petty fashion…Anna has tried several times to kill her sisters behind your back. Rosemary says it's for power; she's even mentioned that Zena's safety is compromised with her sister being able to roam freely. I've seen what Anna does to Rosemary, and Firebeall is always responsible for healing her back to health only to have it done again."

"That is so unlike her, Anna is always so cordial from my inspections of her work throughout the castle. I've never seen her act out in such a way that you are speaking of." He looked at her for a moment thoughtfully. "How could she get such behavior past me anyways?"

"Honestly, Jareth, why would she behave where you could find out about it? That's asking for trouble to begin with, she is smart enough to make sure you are far from the scene before she does her deed…and the cuts and bruises that Rosemary has I'm pretty damn sure she wouldn't inflict upon herself. This past incident Firebeall told me that the vanity mirror in Rosemary's room was shattered when she went in there to fetch Rosemary for me yesterday, this isn't normal sibling behavior."

"I'll take care of it then," he said as he spun her around one more time.

Their dance finally reached the thrones of the High King and Queen, the two royals were sitting in perfect anticipation for them to reach this spot; Starr ran up to her mother and hugged her, Sarah couldn't help but think how cute her baby girl looked in the pink ball gown. Toby walked more calmly over, he was wearing black pants like Jareth's, but instead of a black jacket he had a white one that sparkled in the light.

"Well, well don't you two look stunning tonight, what did they have to bribe you with to sit long enough for them to make you look so," she smiled at them then bowed to the two royals sitting on their thrones watching the scene before them. "You're Majesties."

"Lady Sarah,, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," the High King said as he stood up and loosely embraced her before he took her left hand and placed a kiss on it. "Jareth and Fable, have spoken so much about you, I almost thought I wasn't going to get the opportunity to meet you myself."

Sarah smiled at the man, "I do hope they only had good things to say about me."

"Don't worry there wasn't an ill word said from either, most definitely not from my son. You're all he's been talking about since he has arrived here in our home." Everyone laughed earning themselves stares from the rest of the guests. The group talked for a few more minutes before Diaoh asked Sarah if she would honor him with a dance; Jareth took his mother's hand and they all danced to a classic waltz.

"I'm going to ask her to become my wife and queen, mother," Jareth said once he and his mother were far enough from Sarah and Diaoh to talk such private matters.

"That's wonderful, my dear," she replied happily. "And when do you plan on asking her, and where?"

Jareth laughed at his mother's open curiosity, "Wasn't it you who taught me that it is dangerous to show too much emotion in sight of the public's eye?" She gave him an annoyed look only to have him chuckle softly back at her. "I plan to ask her tonight in this very room during the feast so everybody can hear and not be distracted by other dancers."

"You know you have most definitely caught my son's eye since you first came here, Lady Sarah."

"I hope that's a good thing, or else I'm in some big trouble without knowing why," she laughed lightly as they moved gracefully across the floor.

"In fact that's the best thing that has ever happened to him…"

The ballroom doors crashed open and the music instantly died, everyone stared at the doorway where the intruder stood, a woman clad in black fighting pants and a flowing white shirt held down by a black sash around her stomach with long auburn hair stood glaring back down at them all. Her ruby red lips turned upward into a sinister smile when she spotted Sarah. "Well, Sarah, aren't you a lucky girl, not every lady is fortunate enough to get to dance in the arms of the High King."

"Anna, what are you doing here? Go back to your room immediately and await your punishment for such disrespect to the High King and Lady Sarah," Jareth ordered.

"I will soon enough, but first I'm going to dispose of a second pest; Zena turned out to be an easy kill once I had her powers, my next target however is that little throne seeker, the sweet 'Lady' Sarah," Anna said coldly. "She has been a throne in my side since she arrived back into the Goblin Kingdom, no mortal girl deserves such a title as Lady!"

"She killed Zena!" Sarah was in shock now, she feared for the girls' lives but she didn't think Anna would have tried to commit murder within the walls of the High King and Queen's Palace.

Anna in an angry rage threw a large fireball down at Sarah, but she and Diaoh moved out of its path before it had a chance to hit them. Diaoh called the guards to action, but with her new powers Anna had all the guards defeated within a few minutes. A few of the guest attempted to subdue her but she only sent their attacks flying back at them with a wave of her hand. Finally everyone stopped trying to take her and allowed her to speak once more. "How many of you who are only nobles want to see that wretch become the Goblin Queen or the next High Queen when Queen Fable decides to hand down her crown?" Much to her surprise many of the people in the room had raised their hands, even the High King and Queen themselves. She fumed; her plan wasn't going as she had hoped. They wanted the girl to be the next ruler of the whole Underground. While she was distracted by the odds being in Sarah's favor two guards had come up behind her and grabbed her roughly by the upper arms and started to drag her out. She screamed insanities at them and kicked wildly trying anything to make their grip lessen, she saw red and she wanted to see the mortal girl bleeding at her feet.

Once the guards had her out the room and you could no longer hear her shrieking voice the people in the room decided to take their seats so the feast could finally begin. The variety of food that had been cooked simply appeared from thin air on dishes lined up down the center of the long table. Everyone grabbed the delicious smelling food and placed the servings on their plates and began to eat, everyone indulging in small chit chat with their neighbors. As the mean drew to a close Jareth stood from his seat and got everybody's attention as he walked over to Sarah who had been sitting across from him at the table; Starr and Toby giggled with a knowing of what was about to happen, Jareth had already told them his plans. Once he reached her he got down on one knee, her eyes widened at the idea of what was about to happen…

"Lady Sarah, you captured my heart when you first came to my kingdom and when you returned back to the Underground. Not only have you made me fall totally and madly in love with you more than once, you have given me a beautiful daughter and because of this I ask you not to make me the happiest man in the entire Underground by marrying me and becoming my wife and queen."

Tears clouded her eyes as he spoke of his feelings for her, and had to clear her throat before she could speak her answer to him. "Yes, I will marry you, Jareth." She smiled as he slipped a gold ring onto her finger that had a diamond surrounded by emeralds and sapphires, he kissed her passionately as everybody around them cheered for the Prince of the Underground. As he pulled away she whispered into his ear so only he could hear her, "After all, you are 'my' Goblin King."


	11. Wedding and Trials

Over the next week at Greenhouse Palace Sarah stayed in the garden playing with Starr and Toby, sometimes Fable would join in on their games and her sister Enduress would often scorn her sister's behavior for not being that of her station.

"It is Unbelievable, you lowering yourself to act like a mere peasant, Fable," Enduress scoffed. "And you Sarah, are about to become the Goblin Queen and you still act as though you are in the Aboveground. This behavior does not show the presence of a Queen in a room to her subjects."

"Enduress, not everybody in the entire Underground that are royals, or about to be royal have to act like a complete snob who have something jammed up their asses," Fable said cooly as she stared over at her sister. "When we are in front of an audience we shall act as our station requires, but when we are within the safety and comfort of our homes we shall act as we please whether that be a snob like you or carefree as children. Sarah and I are making sure Starr and Toby have a normal and happy childhood, unlike your children who are stuck in that damn library all day and have probably not seen an ounce of sun in weeks…oh I'm sorry they do get some sun, for maybe thirty minutes a day. Children cannot grow up to appreciate their surroundings if they are stuck inside all day and night. And since you have brought up the subject of how royals are to act let's talk about your behavior upon arriving at MY home. You are constantly telling my subjects what to do in such a way that you act as if they are part of your kingdom, you belittle me and my family, you attempt to trick my son into ruining his reputation and putting his birthright on the line so your son can benefit, and you scorn my son's future wife…have I left anything out? Let me put it this way, you had better start remembering that you are a GUEST in MY home, and politeness matters, or you will be back with your husband sooner than you can blink an eye."

Enduress stared at her sister in shock, that was one thing she had never expected from her tender sister, Fable was not one to lash out on anybody; bowing Enduress left the gardens and went back inside the palace in a hurry. She turned her destination to the great library where her children were studying diligently; when the doors to the library opened Hillary, Reenie, and Galaxus looked up at their mother curiously.

"We're leaving, go pack your things," her crisp voice snapped at them.

As the children left the room Jareth came out from behind a bookshelf. "You're leaving already? Whatever for?"

"You stay away from my kids, I don't want all your ideas getting put into my children's heads," she snapped at him as her poked the air before him as if to make her point. Marching out of the room she went to her chamber and started packing her things then made sure all her kids had their stuff packed and ready to go.

Jareth put away the book he had been holding and went out to the gardens were Sarah was playing with Starr and Toby; she was spinning Starr around in circles, Toby kept shouting 'my turn' every few seconds until Sarah put her daughter down and picked him up; both kids were laughing happily. It was a sight that immediately brought a smile to his face, he could already see a happy future for them all once they were husband and wife bound for eternity.

"Mother, I just saw Enduress, she mentioned to her kids that they are leaving. Is there something I should know about?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Jareth," Fable said laughingly. "I guess I wounded her pride a bit more than I intended, but that's fine with me, I've been waiting for to go back to Pantara Forest for a while now."

Sarah had put Toby down upon seeing Jareth talking to his mother; she walked over to them to see what the conversation was all about. "Is something the matter?"

"Enduress has descided to leave us and go back to her own home," Fable said simply.

"Really, for what reason did she choose to leave?"

"We're not quite sure why, but I bet it has something to do with our conversation earlier while she was getting her five minutes of sun out her with us."

Sarah just shook her head disbelievingly; Starr ran up to them and grabbed Sarah's leg, "Mommy, come dance with us." Sarah picked her up and twirled around the garden with Toby spinning around the two of them. Fable excused herself to go inside and tell the kitchen maids to prepare tea. Jareth watched the three dance around as if there wasn't a care in the world.

"Sarah," he called out to her; she stopped spinning and put Starr down again, nearly falling in the process. "We should get started on preparing for the wedding soon, I don't want to court you forever," he smiled as she walked over to him.

She leaned up and kissed him, getting gagging sounds from behind her, laughing she pulled away from him, "That sounds like a wonderful idea, Mr. Goblin King." They went back inside that palace to start their preparations while the children continued to play without them. Over dinner both of them explained to his parents what they had decided to do for the ceremony. Fable of course grabbed Sarah and told her she was going to help make sure every detail was perfect and nothing was left out, Diaoh and Jareth just shook their heads at the two women in their lives.

Two weeks past so quickly with everything that was going on; Sarah and Starr currently found themselves standing on small stools in the royal seamstress' studio with all her helpers swirling around their feet. The hems of the dresses were the current priority for the women, and they reminded Sarah of little bees buzzing around. Their dresses were just alike, except for the fact that Sarah's gown had a built in corset, much to her displeasure, and the colors. Naturally, Sarah had her gown made in white; Starr's dress was a pale yellow color since it was springtime in the Underground. Sarah's back began to hurt from having to stand so straight for so long, she just wanted to relax and go back to reading in the library, but she knew the moment she let herself relax before told she could she would be scolded by the women with pins in their hands and in the process probably fall over.

"Not to worry, Lady Sarah, you're almost done, I just have a few more stitches to make then we can get you down from here and into the chair," the seamstress said lightly.

True to her word the seamstress had the remaining stitches done within a few minutes and allowed Sarah to finally step down from the stool to take a look at herself in the full length mirror. She did a slow turn to see what every angle looked like before she walked over to Starr who was having the last of her hemming finished. As the girl looked at her reflection Sarah leaned down and kissed her little cheek.

"You look just like a princess."

"The Goblin Princess, right mommy?"

"Well, that too, but you're my little princess, just like you have always been," Sarah laughed.

"Ok, Lady Sarah, Rosemary is ready to do your hair and makeup"

"Thank you," she said before giving Starr another kiss on the cheek then going over to the chair Rosemary was waiting patiently beside. "Good afternoon, Rosemary."

"Good afternoon, Lady Sarah," the elf said as her liege sat down in the chair before her.

"I thought we talked about calling me 'Lady'."

"We also agreed that I was to only call you Sarah when we are alone and not around the rest of the staff."

Sarah had the look of defeat plainly on her face, Rosemary couldn't help but laugh as she began to weave Sarah's hair into its usual half up and half down style, though this time she French braided the top while weaving in silver ribbon through her dark locks, then twisted the braid into a bun. The lower half of Sarah's hair was done in soft curls most of the time; Rosemary decided to add small braids throughout also with little silver ribbons looping in and out of them. Also spread throughout in her hair was little white rhinestones to make her hair sparkle when the light hit it just right. She did her makeup in soft pinks and shimmery white, only adding black eyeliner thinly in the outer corner of her eyes, and she did her lips in a baby pink tinge with a clear slightly glittered gloss for shine.

"There you go, Lady Sarah, I hope you knock him off his feet…actually I know you will," Rosemary said just before a small elf boy came running up to them.

"You're Ladyship, the High Queen has told me to deliver to you this; she says for you to wear it today at your wedding to Prince Jareth."

Sarah took the small blue box and opened it and saw one of the most extraordinary necklaces she'd ever seen before. It was a small cross pendent that pierced through a heart made out of diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds. The cross was in emeralds, the heart was both diamonds and sapphires; the back of the pendent was done with silver framing with the words 'Always There' engraved in black. She had Rosemary clasp the necklace around her slender neck that had been powdered lightly to shimmer like a fairy. She thanked the boy for his trouble with a kiss on the cheek; the boy blushed then darted off the way he had come.

"One last thing, Lady Sarah. Here is a little wedding gift from me," Rosemary said as she put a small finger on Sarah's forehead. "Ok Look."

Sarah looked back into the mirror and saw a thin silver head piece around her forehead with a small pear-shaped diamond in the middle which rested between her eyes where her nose and forehead connected. "Oh, Rosemary, it's absolutely beautiful, thank you," she grabbed the elf in a tight hug. Starr walked up to her mother; she looked so adorable with her hair fixed in its fancy little style and her poofy dress. The two slipped on their shoes then took one more look in the mirror to make sure everything was in place.

"Let's go hunny, or we are going to be late for mommy's wedding."

They headed for the Grand Ballroom where the ceremony was being held; the room had been decorated in shimmering whites and hints of pale yellow, yellow tulips sat in vases that lined the rows of chairs where the guests were seated awaiting the ceremony of the century to begin. The light buzzing of the guests chattering amongst themselves died down when a soft melody began and Starr started her trek down the aisle, there were a few 'awes' as she passed people making her way to the front of the ballroom. As Sarah emerged from the hallway into the great room gasps could be heard throughout the quieting room. Jareth's eyes popped as he saw how beautiful his bride looked in her gown, he was quite certain that he was looking at an angel. Her dress fell to the floor in gentle waves and trailed a foot behind her, little diamonds shimmered from small pinpoints on the skirt, and the bodice was heart-shaped and topped with a layer and French lace. A pair of elbow length gloves adorned her arms, and upon her feet were a pair of glass slippers. She blushed at the attention everyone was paying her in that moment, she finally reached the dais where Jareth took her hand gently and smiled.

"You look stunning, my love," he whispered to her.

"Thank you," she said with a smile as then they turned to the priest.

As the vows were spoken the priest directed Sarah to kneel down onto her knees then indicated for the High King and Queen to proceed; Diaoh and Fable stood from their thrones and came to stand before Jareth and Sarah, their hands began to move in intricate patterns in the air until a small silver tiara formed. Fable took the crown and in one slow fluid movement placed it upon Sarah's head. She stepped back beside her husband who then spoke loudly to everyone.

"I give you the Goblin Queen and the High Princess of the Underground!"

Upon returning to the Castle beyond the Goblin City Sarah revealed to Jareth her magical abilities though still weaker than his they were much stronger than when she had left the kingdom to go to Greenhouse Palace. He was very surprised at how much she had already learned and impressed as well, he began working with her everyday to help her reach the same level as he was, this did not seem to take too long because she grasped the concept of everything quickly. Another topic that had come up between them once they came home were the two trials that still needed to be held against Seth and Anna; the thought of seeing Seth again made her nervous and somewhat about Anna. She was more concerned about the trial against Seth because she knew that he would harass her all through the trial and she wasn't sure she was strong enough not to break down against whatever accusations he came up with.

"Don't worry, Sarah, they won't be able to hurt you," Jareth said as he tried to comfort her the night before.

"It's not just that I'm worried about, Jareth," she said, he just gave her a curious glance as he stroked her hair from her face. "I just don't want Starr or Toby there at the trial; they don't need to be put through that."

"Oh my love, they were never required to be present during the trials, they are much too young to be responsible for the understandings of how the proceedings will be handled and dealt with." Jareth knew that the children were not her prime concern about this, somehow he knew that she had already guessed that the children would not be forced to attend such events of importance yet, he could however take a guess what was setting her on edge…Seth…how he hated that boy for what he did to his wife that night before she came back to the Underground.

The next morning Firebeall woke Sarah up; she had spent one more night in her own room since nobody had gotten her things moved into Jareth's chambers for her. Sitting up she saw Rosemary looking through her wardrobe as she mumbled incoherent sentences about a black dress. Firebeall had walked into the bathroom to start running the water and putting in the oils for her, Sarah swung her legs off the side of the bed and stretched, she looked outside with a sigh, it was such a beautiful day and she would be spending most of it in a windowless room for the trials.

"Ah Ha, found it!" Rosemary's sudden words spoken rather loudly startled Sarah from her thoughts, the elf realized the stunned expression on her Queen's face and blushed. "Sorry, got a little excited there for a moment, that dress was buried way in the back."

Sarah just shook her head in amusement as she walked over to the bathroom, once inside she began to strip her nightgown from her body; dipping into the water she sighed, she could feel her muscles relaxing if only temporarily. She took fifteen minutes bathing before she decided she needed to get out and dry off. Rosemary helped her get dressed into the complicated dress, it was done in the darkest of blacks, and two belts were attached to the dress and went around her stomach and waist. The straps holding the dress up on her shoulders were thin little belts in design, but didn't actually unbuckle, a pair of black gloves reaching her elbows with small belts around the wrists completed her outfit. She clasped a thin silk cloak to her shoulders then began to apply a light layer of makeup. A light grey eye shadow and a thin line of liner made up her eyes, clear gloss was all that adorned her lips. Using her newfound powers she created a gust of wind that instantly dried her hair leaving her only to brush it out. When she finished she left her room so the servants could finally start moving her things to her husband's chamber where she would sleep from that moment on.

As she entered the room where the council and Jareth awaited her before starting the proceedings the witnesses all stood from their seats and bowed low to her to show their utmost respect for their new queen. She walked gracefully to the second throne that sat empty beside Jareth who was giving her a reassuring smile; she just kept her eyes on him as she walked across the room so not to get distracted by anything Seth or Anna were doing. Once she sat upon her throne the trials began…

Several hours later, after much yelling and debating punishments for both criminals; Seth was to become a slave in the castle far from Sarah and the children as was possible. Rosemary saved her sister from the second worst punishment for an immortal, death, instead hers went to the highest level of punishment; she was to be stripped of her powers then spend the rest of her life as a mortal banished to the Aboveground forever. She would be sent there with absolutely nothing and no one to help her adapt to life in that realm.

Jareth looked at the pink and purple mist that swirled in the crystal containing Anna's magic, "I think it's only fair that her power be divided and given to you and Rosemary, seeing as the two of you are her only two victims living to my knowledge." After a moment her created another crystal and let the purple mist float into it, sending the crystal with the pink mist within it to Rosemary he held onto the second crystal.

"Are you sure, I mean can you even do that?"

"Yes, I can," he said appearing behind her pressing the hand with the crystal in it against her flat stomach. The crystal melted into her body and she could feel the magic flow through her, a slight tingling went up her body after a minute. "It's a piece of cake."

Smiling she leaned back resting her head on his shoulder as he placed small kisses along her neck; they both disappeared from the room, and with the added amount of magic in her system she had not only become powerful but also immortal. And to celebrate they consummated their marriage at last.

Toby and Starr, playing in the gardens while Hoggle worked suddenly stopped and looked strangely at one another; the dwarf looked over at them uncertainly.

"Did you feel that too, Starr?"

"Yes, it felt like somebody was tickling me, what does it mean?"

"It means that both of you have become immortal. Sarah must have finally reached the final stages of her transformations thus allowing the two of you to also become full faes," Hoggle said approaching them.

"Momma is able to live forever and ever?" She cried happily, the dwarf nodded and then had to cover his old ears as the two children began shouting happily.


	12. Back to the Above

Sarah loved her life with Jareth in the Underground, it wasn't as rushed and complex as her life had been in the Aboveground, well except when she had to do her Queenly duties. Her family even went back to the Aboveground one week each Underground year and stayed in the old house where Sarah had been residing before her return. The idea to go back had been Starr's, she had loved the Abovegound just as much as she did the Underground and didn't want to forget what life was like up there as well. However, this trip up was not one that had been planned and certainly not one of fun…

Toby, now sixteen and very handsome, was dressed in a black Aboveground suit; Sarah came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a comforting hug. "You don't have to do this, Toby."

"I know, but he was my father after all," he said as he turned to his sister. She was dressed in a knee length skirt and a white blouse with a black business jacket over it unbuttoned. "Are you coming as well?"

"Well, like you said, he was my father."

Jareth walked in and smiled at the two, "Do you wish for me to join you two to your father's funeral?"

"No, I think it's best if Toby and I go alone, Belinda will still be there, and we still aren't on good terms. She barely called us to let us know of his death, not to mention she decided to make snappy remarks about my so called life. I don't think it would be wise to make her get anymore crazed ideas into that head of hers," Sarah said softly, she leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. "We will see you when we get back."

He nodded as she grabbed Toby's hand and transported them to the old house, it was pouring down a heavy sheet of rain outside the windows. She couldn't help but think how appropriate the weather was, dark and dreary, just like this reunion with her stepmother was going to be. They went to the garage and got in Sarah's old Thunderbird, closing the top before starting the engine and opening the garage door so they could back out. The drive to the local cemetery took about fifteen minutes; once they arrived they could see Belinda and a couple of her family members and several family friends crowded together under an awning. Opening two umbrellas they got out of the car and began their walk out to the burial site.

"Toby! My darling boy," Belinda said as she walked towards them. "It's been so long, almost nine years! Give your mother a hug."

Toby sidestepped his mother and went up to his father's casket, he frowned at the man before him; they thought he never heard the cruel things they had said about Sarah when he wasn't looking. They had thrown her out like a common whore when she got pregnant with his cousin and best friend; some part of him even blamed them for what Seth did to her, he didn't know why he blamed his parents for that, how could they have known he would do that? A man that Toby didn't know came up to him and patted him on the back giving his condolences as he did.

"Don't pity me, he was no father to me," Toby said in a harsh whisper; the man backed away from the teen quickly and went back to his seat. "I hate you father, for all that you have done to Sarah, you don't deserve her love, yet she still came to tell you goodbye."

Sarah saw Belinda coming towards her with a scowl printed onto her mocha lips, "You turned him against me you sniveling little snoop!"

"Belinda, dear I don't believe this is neither the time nor the place to create such a scene," Sarah said calmly as she saw a few people turn to look at them. "You should really consider your surroundings next time."

"Why you little…"

Sarah walked around the woman and went to stand beside Toby, she created a beautiful violet rose and laid it down on her father's chest, her brother created a small crystal ball and put it on top of the stem.

"Let's go, I don't want to be here anymore," Toby said, and Sarah nodded her agreement. As everyone watched them, they opened their umbrellas and walked back up to the car.

Once they were back at the house Toby went upstairs to his bedroom, he sat on the dusty bed and put his head in his hands. As time slowly ticked by he found he was regretting ever going to the funeral, he hadn't really wanted to see his mother, nor his father. All those people who were there didn't know half of the problems that were caused because of the choices that man made regarding his family. He thought at one time that he would never escape the misery of that life, up until the day Sarah came to the school and picked him up saying he was going to be living with her and Starr.

Sarah knew her brother wanted to be left alone for a little while, so she piddled around the kitchen for a while until she couldn't take the eerie silence of the house anymore and went upstairs. She poked her head inside his room and saw him bent over on the bed. "Toby, we should get back to the castle now."

"Alright, I'm ready to go anyways."

Transporting themselves back to the Underground only took a minute; as they appeared in the throne room Sarah felt two pairs of arms wrap around her legs, opening her eyes she looked down and saw two dark heads of her four year old son and daughter, Jacob and Midnight.

"Mommy, Uncle Toby we misses you," they said in unison; Sarah kissed each of them on the forehead and smiled. Starr came in holding Sarah's two year old baby who had a head full of blonde hair and mismatched eyes like his father.

"How is my baby Jared this afternoon?"

"He has been cranky as ever since you left this morning," Starr said irritably. "It didn't help when dad left too."

"Where did your father go," Sarah said as she bounced the baby boy on her hip.

"He went out flying to check on the creatures in the Labyrinth, apparently there have been minor disturbances on the outer edges."

"Uncle Toby," Midnight said holding her hands up signaling him to pick her up.

"And how is my favorite little niece," Toby asked as he picked the girl up.

"I took dance lessons this morning," she said.

"You mean you started dance lessons without me? I'm hurt, we were supposed to start them together so I could dance with you," Toby said as he twirled the little girl who started giggling in glee.

Sarah smiled over at her second daughter, who was now hugging her Uncle's neck tightly to keep from flying from his arms as he twirled. Looking down at Jared she saw that he was falling asleep in her arms so she took him up to his room while telling the other kids to get back to their studies. Walking down the corridors she hummed an old melody Grandmother Mary had sung to her and Starr before she died. Looking down at the boy she brushed away a small strand of soft blond hair that had fallen into his little face. Inside his room she tucked him tightly into his little bed then walked into the adjoining room which she and Jareth slept; she went into the large closet and picked out a simple red dress with long sleeves and an oval neckline to change into. Once changed she put her aboveground clothes back into a drawer that she kept specially for when they traveled above then left the closet.

"That dress looks beautiful on you, my dear."

"As you always tell me whenever I wear it," she said turning to Jareth who had appeared in the room.

"Because you always look beautiful in it," he said as he watched her tie a black sash around her waist. "Would you like me to say something else?"

"No, it's fine…I just like to tease you," she laughed.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, "I don't like to be teased, love." She smiled before vanishing from his arms. He smirked, "So typical, Sarah."

She appeared back in the throne room all the while laughing lightly, the goblins that had been laying about the floor suddenly jumped up when she appeared. Looking down at the startled little creatures she apologized for scaring them then headed for the library where Jacob and Midnight were having their lessons with Rosemary. When she was certain that they were concentrating on their work she went to another room that was a lot smaller than the library and found Starr in deep concentration trying to open a portal to the Aboveground. Once suddenly opened and Starr fell through, it closed instantly behind her.

"Oh my, she did it," the tutor said. "But she wasn't supposed to go through as well; it might not be stable on the other side."

"I'll go find her," Sarah laughed before also taking her leave to the Aboveground again. Appearing in the old Victorian house she created three spinning feathers which began to spin quickly in a circle till an image appeared, she saw Starr trying to pull her foot out of a piece of coral while holding her breath. "Show me her position on a world map!" The image changed to a map with a glowing red dot in the Pacific Ocean. "Take me there!"

Starr struggled to remove her foot from the trap it was caught in because of the coral reef before she ran out of air. It surprised her when her mother appeared beside her, Sarah grabbed hold of her daughter and transported them both back to the castle.

"Wonderful, you found her…what happened? Why are you wet," the tutor said.

"Let's not talk about it," Starr said. "How did I do?"

"You did well, though you weren't supposed to go through it just yet. We will keep working on it."

Starr nodded then she and her mother went to their chambers and changed out of their wet clothes. Jareth came into his and Sarah's chamber while she was dressing. "Changing again?" He walked over to the chair in which she had the red dress hanging, "It's wet…what happened?"

"Starr went through her first portal into the Pacific Ocean," she replied as she slipped an identical black dress on. "She wasn't supposed to even go through the portal, but it was too close to her, so naturally she fell through."

"Interesting…I'm going to assume since your dress is wet as well that our daughter is home safe and sound?" Sarah nodded and he breathed out in relief. "Are we still going to the house next week?"

"I totally forgot about that, yes, we're still going," Sarah said as she started brushing her hair out. Jareth went over to her and took the brush from her hand; he stroked the bristles through her locks gently till each one was silky smooth again. Brushing some of her hair away from her neck he rested his head in the crook.

"I love you my dearest Sarah."

Sarah smiled at his reflection then turned into his arms and whispered into his ear, "I know you do."

"Not just because you're my queen either," he said just as quietly. He brushed a hand across her cheek as she looked up into his eyes. "I love you because of the joy you gave me in having two beautiful daughters, and two sons; because you made me the happiest man alive that day in the ballroom of my parents' palace when you said you'd marry me."

Sarah couldn't help the blush that rose in her cheeks making Jareth smirk down at her, catching his look she leaned up and kissed him passionately before giving him her own little smirk and pushed him down onto the bed where she had him temporarily pinned to the mattress. Kissing him again she let her hands slide down his lithe frame and pulled his shirt from the confines of his breeches and off of his head. Her lips traveled down his torso till she reached the edges of pants, her hands furiously pulled the pants from his body, having to remove his boots in the process. Once his clothes were removed she let her body slide teasingly up his, she taunted him with her temporary dominance, this ended quickly as he flipped them over and magically removed her clothes that hid her creamy skin from his eyes. She wrapped a leg around his waist bringing their bodies closer as if to say 'I'm ready for you', and he didn't let her down. With one swift movement he was inside of her, and they began their dance, each letting the other know their utmost pleasure with moans that were only kept within the room by the thick walls.

Three days later they all were in the Aboveground house, Jared was upstairs asleep, Jacob and Midnight were watching TV, Jareth and Toby were playing chess-Toby always lost, and Starr and Sarah were out shopping for food. When the girls got back to the house Sarah charmed the supplies to put itself away in the appropriate places then she and Starr worked their magic to clean the house.

"You know boys, it would go even faster if you helped us…"

"Oh Sarah, you know that it wouldn't because the last time one of us tried to help you told us we were doing it wrong. We gave up after that," Jareth said then gave a low chuckle when she rolled her eyes.

A knock sounded on the door rather loudly stopping all conversation in the room; everybody quickly changed their normal attire to that of the Aboveground style. Upstairs Jared began to cry, Starr went to get the baby boy while Sarah answered the door.

"Belinda, what in the name of the Underground are you doing here?"


	13. Belinda

The woman standing before her had the most irate expression written all over her face; Sarah just looked at her stepmother in wonder. The woman took a moment to take in a deep breath then waved a full bloomed crystal rose in Sarah's face…

"Care to explain how this _thing_ can change from a bud to a full bloomed rose then back to a bud again even though it's crystal? And why is it such a strange color," Belinda shouted.

"I don't know what you mean, I've never seen that in my life," Sarah said as she covered her surprise quickly. "Where did you say you got it?"

"Don't play with me you disgusting little wench! There were at least twenty people serving as witnesses to a crystal ball melting over a violet rose that you placed on my husband's chest at his funeral…somehow it created this…evil!" Belinda pushed past Sarah into the house. "Oh my god, you really are a whore…three kids. Was stealing my little boy away from me and my husband not enough for you?"

"I beg your pardon, I cannot believe what I'm hearing here…you come here curious of that crystalline rose which by the way I have not seen change its shape once since you arrived, and by your description it should have done this by now…then you barge into my home and accuse me of being a whore in front of my family, and I did not steal Toby from you, I got him away from a negligent household."

"Mother, is everything alright? I heard shouting down here," Starr said as she walked back down the stairs holding little Jared tightly in her arms so not to drop him.

"FOUR kids, I should wonder if you're hiding anymore little monsters up there," Belinda snapped.

"How dare you speak to the Goblin Queen in such a manner!"

"Toby!"

Belinda looked over at her sixteen year old son as if he had suddenly grown two extra heads. The rest of the group just looked at him in shock that he had let their secret out. They then turned their heads to the woman just inside the doorway to see how she was reacting.

"They have ruined you my dear boy, there is no such thing as the 'Goblin Queen', just like there is no 'Goblin King'," she said tenderly walking over to her son and taking his face into her hands.

Sarah and Jareth glared at the intruding woman then looked at one another for a moment…there was a silent agreement between them; their Aboveground clothes rearranged into their royal attire. Toby then stepped back from his mother and let his guise change as well, Starr and the twins following suit. Belinda moved away quickly as she realized the changing there before her eyes, her mouth dropped open.

"Forgive me, Belinda, I have not properly introduced myself and my family to you," Sarah said cooly. "I am Sarah, the Goblin Queen, this is my husband Jareth the Goblin King. Starr and Toby the Crown Prince and Princess, Prince and Princess Jacob and Midnight the twins, and my youngest Prince Jared."

Belinda backed away from them quickly, her mind kept trying to process what she was seeing…there were strange things going on in this house right there in front of her, she turned and fled to the safety of her car then sped off like a bat out of hell. Sarah walked over to her daughter and took Jared from her and began to dance around slowly in the living room until he fell back to sleep. She then went upstairs and placed him back in his crib to finish his nap while they finished preparing the house for the upcoming week.

Belinda sped quickly down the streets of the city trying to get as far from her stepdaughter's home as humanly possible, she couldn't believe the things she had just witnessed in that house. None of it was sinking in and she remained frazzled by this. 'Did I really see flying dishes and food in that kitchen? Were those cleaning supplies really cleaning on their own? Their clothes changed right before my eyes, like out of a Jane Austen novel!'

"How is that even possible?"

She ran a red light and straight past a cop who clocked her going 85mph, the cop pulled out behind her and turned on his sirens. The sounds of the sirens and the glare of the red and blue lights flashing in her rearview mirror brought her to the present; she pulled the car over as soon as she could and waited for the officer to approach her window. He did so in a slow stride as if observing her behavior before confronting her face to face. As he reached the driver's side window she pressed the button that made the window roll itself down so they could speak.

"Do you know you were going 20 miles over the actual speed limit and you ran that red light back there," the man said. "I need to see your license and insurance, Mrs."

"Ok," Belinda said as she reached a shaky hand into her purse and produced her billfold where she extracted her license then reached into the glove compartment and brought out her proof of insurance for him as well. "Here you go."

"Mrs. Belinda Williams…you're not the wife of John Williams who just passed away are you?"

"Yes, he was my husband, why do you ask?"

"I'm not sure if you'd remember me of not, Roger Splanchnic," the policeman said. She turned and gave him a long look, her eyes narrowed as recognition came over her. "I was the officer at your house nine years ago when your stepdaughter got custody of the young Toby Williams."

"How could I forget you…you let that whore have my son."

"Right, well I'm going to have to give you a ticket for speeding and running a red light," Splanchnic said. He walked back to his patrol car with her license and insurance in hand, after a few minutes he returned and handed back her belongings and then gave her a little pink slip which she snatched viciously from his hands. As she watched him drive off she restarted her car and sped home.


	14. Old Friends and Lost Family

Sarah watched Jareth as he stared intently into one of his crystals he used to keep track of their kingdom while he was away. (They had asked Hoggle to look after the Castle while they were away since the Captain of the Guard and his men were posted around the boarders in case of outside invasion. The castle had a small patrol that the command had been temporarily given to Hoggle who was a veteran himself.) She smirked as she created a rotating group of feathers and softly blew them away from her towards her unaware husband; the feathers began to circle around his crystal blocking the image from his mismatched eyes. A small smile crept unto his lips as he banished the crystal and let the feathers fall into his hand; standing up he went over to his wife and brushed a feather across the back of her bare neck.

"I should guess you wanted me to take a break from watching over our home," he said letting his lips caress her skin behind her ear making her shiver in delight.

"At least till dinner is over, I'm sure Hoggle can manage that long without your beautiful and intense eyes glaring over him," she replied as she turned to face him. "Then you can go back to watching the kingdom though you are supposed to be taking a vacation for just a little while. It won't kill you to just trust in him for once." She leaned up and kissed his nose then moved around him to go get the kids, but he stopped her and whispered into her ear that should anything befall the kingdom he was entirely blaming her and her tickling feathers. She felt his lips curl up into a smile, he knew no one was absurd enough to attack their home who didn't wish to come subject to the consequences, not only were they a force to be reckoned with on their own but they also had the rulers of the entire Underground as their allies and though normally these two rulers would never interfere with disputes between kingdoms unless it threatened to spread through the entire Underground; however as the Goblin King and Queen were the next in line to the High Throne they had full support from their predecessors. Jareth released her hand and let her proceed upstairs and call each of the kids from their rooms. She poked her head into Jared's room to make sure he was still sleeping soundly after his dinner, then went back down to the rest of the family and their dinner commenced and ended peacefully.

After dinner the kids got ready for bed while their mother stayed downstairs in the kitchen magically cleaning the dishes back to perfection. Afterwards, she went up to her and Jareth's bedroom and changed into her favorite silver silk nightgown; pulling a robe over her nightgown and tied it closed before going and tucking in the twins and to check once more on her youngest child.

Sarah was the first to wake the next morning, she pulled on a pair of jogging pants and a matching shirt then pulled her hair up into a messy bun. Quietly slipping downstairs she opened the door and went outside. Before she took off jogging she did some stretching in the yard. While she was running a black man ran up beside her, bumping her shoulder to get her attention, Sarah turned her head and came to a complete stop almost falling.

"De Yonté!"

"Hello, Sarah," De Yonté smiled at his friend. "I haven't seen you in years, I haven't even seen Rachel around since the last time you came into the beauty salon."

"Really, what happened to her?"

"I don't know, we were closing up the salon and she just said 'my son is here, Sarah is in trouble', but when I turned around to ask her what she was talking about she was nowhere to be found," he said. "I was hoping you could tell me what happened to her."

"I don't know what's happened to her either," she said; he indicated for them to continue running.

"So, you've been doing a lot since I last saw you; you now own the salon, you married Amanda Heart, have two kids. That's a huge change from when we last spoke. So how is Mrs. Spring and the Spring kids?"

"They are doing well, Amanda always asks me if you come into the salon at the end of the week; she really misses you and Rachel. But I guess since you were living in England for the past ten years that would explain why nobody has seen you around. You should come by sometime and meet the kids, as well as catch up with Amanda, she would love that."

"I'll have to talk to my husband about that. You already know I had Starr, but you haven't met my other three," she said as they came to a stop in front of her house. "Toby and Starr are such great help sometimes."

"You're married, and you have four kids already, how long have you been married for," he said slightly surprised.

"Nine years," she said as she tried to catch her breath. "The youngest is two, and my twins are four now."

"Are the twins boys or girls, and what about the baby?"

"Jared, the youngest, is a boy, and the twins are both boy and girl, their names are Jacob and Midnight," she said with a slight chukle. "Oh I hear Jared crying, I better go check on him."

"But I didn't hear anything," DeYonté said.

"It's a mother thing, you just know when their crying. It was nice getting to see you again, maybe I'll be able to come visit sometime soon." She hugged him then ran inside as he began to run down the road again. She went upstairs and sure enough Jared sat in his crib crying softly; she picked him up and cradled him in her arms humming softly then began to sing a little lullaby.

_Personent hodie,_

_Voces pu-er-u-lae_

_Lau-dan-tes_

_Ju-cun-de_

_Qui no-bis est na-tus_

_Sum-mo de-o da-tus_

_Et de vir, vir, vir_

_Et de vir, vir, vir_

_Et de vir-gi-ne-o_

_Ven-tre pro-cre-a-tus_

The tiny boy fell asleep in her arms soon after. She put him back down into the crib then went back to her bedroom to change into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She took the clothes and walked quietly into the adjoining bathroom closing the door silently behind her.

When she finished her shower and getting dressed she went downstairs to prepare breakfast for everyone that still lay asleep upstairs in their beds. While she was working on the bacon Jareth had walked silently up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her small waist causing her to jump in great surprise, turning around to face him she playfully hit his chest.

"Don't do that to me!"

"But it's so much fun to catch you off guard," he said wickedly. "Where did you go this morning?"

"I went jogging, ran into one of my old friends from the beauty salon I used to go to," she said turning back to the food. "We jogged around the neighborhood for a while till we got back in front of the house." She turned the stove off and summoned several plates to her before she had the kitchen dancing with floating plates of food. She gently guided the full plates to the table and let them set smoothly onto the table top. "Do you want to go wake the kids or should I do it myself," she asked turning once again into his arms.

"How about we both go wake them up," he replied softly in her ear. He could feel the goose bumps rise on her arms as his breath brushed across her ear.

They walked upstairs together hand in hand only separating to go into the children's rooms and wake them; she went into Jacob and Midnight's room and coaxed the twins awake; he went to each Toby's and Sarah's rooms and with some difficulty got the two teens out of their sleepy havens. As the kids raced downstairs the two lovers walked into their youngest' room, he was still sleeping soundly in his crib and they only spent a few moments watching his chest rise and fall while his little fists curled close to his precious little face. They quietly walked back downstairs where a quite meal began; afterwards Starr dashed up to the upper bathroom to prepare for the day, Toby mumbled about not having to have any hot water in the lower bathroom as he walked slowly that direction. Sarah gave him a soft giggle as she went into the living room and switched on the TV for Midnight and Jacob. About twenty minutes later Sarah heard Jared start crying again, and took a warm bottle up to him. When she brought him back down to sit with the twins she saw her middle children had fallen back to sleep. She placed the little boy on a magically created palette on the floor then sat down with him and played with his blond hair. The baby played with a crystal ball which held a rose which kept repeating its blooming cycle, she absently listened to his little gurgles of joy as she flipped through the channels. She clicked the channel over to the news and immediately let out a gasp at the recent news.

/TV NEWS/

'Car collision ending up with car going over the wall into the roaring river below.'

'No survivors found, passengers of the remaining car, Eric Salone and his wife Carmen Salone, the only passenger of the overboard car , widow Belinda Williams, who was proclaimed dead on the scene.'

'More on the accident tonight at seven, an eye witness who claims it was no accident.'

/TV NEWS/

Hearing someone coming into the room she flicked the TV off quickly; Toby came into the room followed closely by Starr, Toby oversaw the horrified expression on his sister's face and gave her a curious look. "What's the matter, Sarah?"

"Nothing, nothing, I'm fine…just feeling a little queasy," she replied. She got up and went outside to sit on the back porch to think, she didn't know what to do now. "He'll find out sooner or later, and then I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do as to why I didn't tell him the truth."

"What's the matter, my dear Goblin Queen," Jareth said as he appeared behind her chair and rested his hands on her shoulders.

"Belinda died in a car accident today, it was on the news and I didn't tell Toby, I didn't want to, but he has to know, and I should be the one to tell him, but I'm afraid he will be angry that I hid it from him in the first place."

"Sarah, you should have told him, that's very important information, good or bad, events like this he would want us to be completely honest with him about the situation. You have to go back in there and tell him."

"I'm not sure why I didn't want to tell him, I was just so shocked that it made me do something so slight and irresponsible." She rubbed her temples in frustration knowing she was going to have to tell Toby soon or there was going to be an all out brother-sister fight that hadn't occurred for four years.

As seven-thirty rolled around a vicious knock sounded against her bedroom door, hesitantly she opened it to see a very upset Toby standing outside the threshold.

"I cannot believe you lied to me! You of all people lied to me about the one thing that should be important to us, family! You were not sick earlier; no you were guilty of keeping the news of MY mother's death from that car accident. For Pete's sake I'm sixteen, I think I can handle news about my mother's death!"

"Toby, I can explain why I didn't say anything."

"I hope so, because I do have a right to know."

Sarah pulled him into the room and closed the door. Occasionally the other family members would hear shouts coming from the upstairs room. After a while the door opened and Toby stormed out of Sarah's room to go directly into his; Starr left her seat at the dining room table where she had planted herself to read a book, she went into her Uncle's room; no sound could be heard between the two by anybody else in the house.

"You know she didn't mean to upset you," Starr said as she looked across the room at him. He glared back at her but didn't say a word. "She probably was in shock when she told you; she would have told you the truth eventually, that's how she is."

"I know, but it's the fact that she didn't tell me the minute she knew and was around me."

"Well, I think you should go apologize for blowing up at her like you did," Starr said firmly.

"Why should I apologize for her, my actions are justified by the fact she lied to me about my own mother. If anything she should apologize to me!"

"But you just claimed you knew that she would come around one way or another, now how does that constitute you making a scene? You should apologize to her. Now, I've said my peace do with it as you please." She opened the door back up but as she walked out she looked back at him and said gently. "Just remember when guilt overcomes you, you brought this upon yourself. My mother knows that feeling already, she knew it the second she made the mistake of not telling you." With that said she left him in the dark room. He kept asking himself why he should be the one to apologize, she had lied to him.

Sarah was not letting anybody-not even Jareth-come into the room, and if they had the nerve to try she had a crystal ready to attack them with. Though, she wouldn't let anybody in, none of them were beating against it to get in anyways. She was mad at Toby yes, but she was even more furious with herself. She knew she should have told him sooner about his mother instead of risking the chance he would catch the late news with the "eye witness", but he knew her better than this and should have known her conscience would have gotten the better of her and she would have come to him and told him everything herself.

The two siblings stayed upstairs in their separate rooms in total silence for another hour before Sarah gave up and went to Toby's room. A knock on his door woke him from his mental ramblings; he didn't have time to tell whoever it was to go away when Sarah opened the door. There were several minutes of an awkward silence until, "I'm sorry." They looked at one another and laughed as they realized that they had apologized in unison.


	15. Happily Ever After

**Hey loverlies,**

**This is the final installment of 'A Child Brings Us Closer', I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it. I know I have enjoyed editing it and making it much more presentable from it's orginal form. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, it was so inspiring. Please let me know what you think of this last chapter 'Happily Ever After'.**

**~Kerioke**

* * *

When they returned back to the Underground they were given a letter by Hoggle who was relieved to be done standing in for the two royals. Jareth, after a threat of no sex for a century from Sarah, tried to pay Hoggle for his services, but the dwarf refused anything his King tried to give him. Instead he simply said it had been an honor that the royal family even trusted him with the job of holding the castle. Sarah just shook her head at him in disbelief; usually he was all over getting shiny stuff like coins and jewels, after wards she sent him off to his modest hut to relax for the next few days. Jareth made sure that she recognized that he did indeed try to give the dwarf payment and that he was in the clear and she could not refuse him of sex over it. He pulled her tight against him and crushed his lips against hers as proof that he would get what he lusted for and loved her for (along with every other reason he loved her of course lol).

She pushed away from him slightly and indicated to the letter he still held in his hand. "So is the letter from, dear?"

He looked down at the formal invelope, "Lord Garald and Lady Saturnalla, it's an invitation to a ball celebrating the birth of their fist daughter on the eve of the next full moon."

"My goodness that is only a week from today! I guess I will get with Fable about new wardrobes for the kids."

"My darling, is that really necessary, I mean the kids already have ball gowns and suits for every ball and special occasion we attend, won't one of the ones they have already do? I'm sure the ones they wore to the last ball with the High King and Queen will do."

"True they do have plenty, the High Queen has made sure of that upon each visit to their palace," she murmured more to herself. "I suppose it would be alright if we didn't subject them to unnecessary fitting sessions. Well then, I'm going to go help the girls pick out their dresses."

"So soon?" He gripped her tighter to his chest. "I thought we could…play…before we got back down to business, our time in the Underground was filled with so much drama we had no time to play."

"Have you not learned over these past nine years that it takes girls forever to find the perfect dress and actually stick with it? We will have time to play tonight after the children have been put to bed for the night. Then you can play all you want where ever you want." He crushed his lips to hers again and only allowing one hand to roam down her slender frame to show he was satisfied with her compromise. "I had a feeling that would please you."

She left him with a light giggle to go to her eldest daughter's room leaving him shaking his head in amusement at her ways of getting things to go her way. He would do anything she wanted should she ever ask for it; he thought back to her vows at the wedding, they had strung the strings of his heart with a glorious melody. She had taken his words from her first journey in his Labyrinth and made them her own to show how deep her love for him was: _"Jareth, my Goblin King, my faithful; I shall love you, never fear you, and shall be ruled by you for all eternity from this day on_." She did love him, and she did allow herself to be ruled by him, but he was and would always be her slave with all the power he possessed, and never for an instant did he wish himself free of her influence.

"Mother, does this one look ok? Be completely honest, I want this dress to be perfect…"

"Starr, you have gone through half of you gowns, some of them twice already during the last two hours. Any and all of your dresses would be perfect, you just need to make the decision."

"No, Mother, not all of them would be perfect, so far they are only good, I want it to perfect…" Starr groaned from inside her closet, Sarah just smirked from her place on the chair by the vanity. "Oh my goodness! I found it, but I don't remember this one from any other balls I've attended, in fact I've never seen it at all."

"Well, let me see it already," Sarah said anxiously, she wanted to know what dress Fable had given her that was causing such a stir in the closet. Her daughter stepped from the closet with the "perfect" dress in hand, Sarah's mouth fell open. "Oh my god…"

The dress was pearl colored; the skirt was wide and layered. The body was tight and covered in pearls and sequins, the sleeves poofed out at the shoulders then became form-fitting at the elbows to the wrists. The neckline was a low-cut oval design, but not so much as to be overly revealing.

"I thought you should have it now, my dear." They turned to face the door where Jareth stood looking rather smug and pleased with himself. "I've kept that dress all these years since your mother's very first jaunt through the labyrinth when she was fifteen. She was wearing that exact dress when I realized how much in love I was with her and planned to ask her to be my wife."

"It's beautiful, Daddy," she turned to her mother with eyes that reminded Sarah of a young doe so full of innocence. "Please Momma; please let me wear it to the ball, its PERFECT!"

The look on her daughter's face was just irresistible she couldn't help herself, and with a light laugh she agreed that Starr could wear it to the event. With a squeal Starr ran to her mother who had gone to stand next Jareth who was now in the center of the room and hugged her with a force that knocked both to the ground. Jareth laughed at the image before him then went to have lunch prepared in the kitchen for them.

The week passed by rather slowly, in an almost agonizing way for Starr who was looking forward to the ball more than anybody else. She loved balls because of all the attention the attending ladies got from their male counterparts, like when I guy asked her to dance; she loved the frill and the lace of the dresses that she got to wear and see other ladies wore that inspired new designs for her to look forward to wearing. She had helped her little sister, Midnight, get fitted for her new dress after they were all treated with one of her infamous temper tantrums over the fact that it wasn't fair for Starr to get a new dress and not her too. Midnight's dress was as dark as her raven hair; it had silver embroidery along the empire waist and oval neckline. It hung to the ground in beautiful layers of velvet; the sleeves clung tightly to her slender arms and came to a point at the back of her hand. Toby and Jacob were saved the torment of hanging with the ladies and their maids, instead Jareth took them elsewhere to get fitted for their outfits away from the torments of ladies.

"Momma, don't I look beautiful in this dress?"

"You look absolutely lovely, Midnight, now Lady Rosemary is ready to fix your hair up. Now run along so Starr can get her dress ready. "A strangled cry from her oldest child who stood behind the dressing screen made Sarah stop coaxing her youngest girl to the lady in waiting. "Is everything all right, Starr?"

"How do you tie this thing, its impossible!"

A soft chuckle fell from Sarah's lips, she went behind the screen and helped tie the ribbons on the back of the dress top; when she finished she ushered her to the stool to see if the dress needed any alterations. The seamstress started voicing notes on what need to be altered…

"The hem needs to be brought up a bit; it looks like the corset on it needs to be tightened some around the bust. The sleeves also need to be adjusted a bit," the old seamstress turned to her assistant to take the supplies she would need to make the alterations then turned back to Starr. The needles and thread and silver ribbon fell from her thin hands. "How in the world is it doing that?"

The dress was altering itself, everything she had voiced as well as small unmentioned things; it kept altering until the dress fitted the girl so perfectly that the seamstress was sure they were going to have to use magic to remove the dress later.

"Well, Jareth created the dress; he probably infused it with artificial life so that it would fit itself to the current wearer to complete perfection. It fit me the exact way at the ball while I was going through the labyrinth."

"This was your gown, before you and his Majesty were married? How unusual, he doesn't give exquisite gifts like this to just an ordinary labyrinth runner, fae are always running the maze," the seamstress said absently.

"It was before I became fae or even lived in the Underground. The few hours before my transformation began and Starr was conceived."

The look on the seamstress' face was that of surprise, she had not known Sarah had not been fae before she and the Goblin King had gotten married. Starr just rolled her eyes irritably at the woman and her mother; guessing she was done she stepped off the stool then sat down in a cushioned chair near Midnight to wait her turn to do her hair.

It came time to go to the ball, Jareth had to go settle a small feud that was between some sprites and the fairie lights (a glowing form of fairies that came out at night), he was pissed that he had to take care of such things before such an evening as this and told Sarah that he would catch up with them. Sarah piled the children into the carriage then climbed in herself. The coachman whipped the horses into motion and the carriage set course for Lord Gerald and Lady Saturnalia's castle. Toby and Starr each busied themselves with creating a gift for the child; Toby was creating a beautiful music box that resembled Sarah's old one, and played one of Grandmother Mary's old lullabies. Starr was making a silver necklace that held a triangular pendent with a gold heart in the center of it. Midnight was extremely bored during the ride, she wished she could make such beautiful gifts like her older siblings but her magic wasn't as developed as theirs; Jacob sat silently as he stared out the window, he also was unable to make a gift for the baby. They had left Jared in Rosemary's care for the evening, knowing she could be trusted to keep the child safe and warm until their return.

After two hours of driving Midnight spoke up in a most impatient tone, "Momma, are we almost there yet? It's very stuffy in here."

"We should be arriving at the gates in the next five or ten minutes, honey," Sarah was watching Starr weave her magic together to finish the chain of the necklace. The amount of magic being used to make the small links was probably contributing to the stuffiness of the carriage because the carriage was more than roomy enough to fit them all in here. "That looks beautiful, Starr, I believe that their daughter will cherish it throughout the years."

The carriage came to a smooth stop and moments later the coachman removed himself from his perch and opened the door to help them out of their seats, first his Queen followed by the princesses and then the prince. Sarah led her children into the magnificent castle where a servant was waiting for them to show them to their rooms until the festivities began.

Around ten Sarah and the children left for the ball, there had been word from the Lord that Jareth was already awaiting them in the ballroom. The announcer stood at the ready before the great double doors that led to the grand room full of people. Each member of the family told the man their names and titles, then he turned and opened the great doors.

The announcer banged his staff loudly upon the marble floor effectively getting everyone's attention. "Prince Toby of the Goblin Kingdom…Princess Starr of the Goblin Kingdom." Jareth watched his oldest daughter walk down the stairs gracefully in her mother's dress. Toby looked handsome in his suit which ironically reminded Jareth of his suit worn when Sarah was first in the Goblin Kingdom's castle ballroom. Starr followed her elder cousin down the steps leaving two stairs between them. "Prince Jacob and Princess Midnight of the Goblin Kingdom." The twins entered together and walked side by side down the steps. The audience commented on how sweet the twins looked as they came down to join in the activity of the evening. Jareth waited silently for Sarah's announcement, he hadn't seen her since that morning and hadn't had time to go see her before the ball since the feud settling had taken much longer than he had expected. "Her Royal Highness Queen Sarah of the Goblin Kingdom and High Princess of the Underground."

A deathlike hush spread like wildfire throughout the crowd of nobles as she descended the stairs. Jareth had to keep himself from drooling; she wore a sleek black dress that done silver sequins in the pattern of his crest upon her chest. A slit ran up both legs to her thighs. She wore silver heels on top of black hoes. Her hair hung in light curls down her back with silver vines weaving in and out of them. Dark grey eye shadow and a touch of eyeliner graced her eyes, ruby red lipstick brought her lips to life. Silver teardrop earrings hung from her ears and a matching necklace hung down her down her neck giving the dress' 'V' neck design more emphasis. Glitter so find had been sprinkled across her bare arms, and neck giving the illusion that she was glowing. She practically floated down the stairs into the crowd of immortals. The music started in a light melody as she reached the floor; several couples began to dance in a slow waltz, Jareth lost sight of his glorious wife, and so the search began.

"Princess Starr, would you honor me with a dance," Starr turned to see a brown-haired boy with sparkling blue eyes.

"I would be honored, my lord," she said as she made a small curtsey. The boy held out a hand for her to take, when she did he placed his other hand around her waist and they joined in with the dancers on the floor. "My lord, I don't believe I caught your name."

"I don't believe I gave it, my lady. My apologies, my name is Derik Beamwaters, I'm the son of the Duke of Light Elf Forest." She smiled warmly at him, and for the rest of the dance they chatted lightly.

Sarah was declining all offers to dance by saying she would not dance with anyone until she had the opportunity to dance with her husband. Searching everywhere she just couldn't seem to find Jareth in the crowd of dancing bodies.

"My lady, if you would honor me with a dance across this lovely ballroom," sighing in annoyance the Goblin Queen turned to the mysterious suitor. "I was told you were waiting for a dance from your husband, so I came immediately to your side."

"Well, my lord, you have heard correctly, but I suppose I could honor you with this dance," she curtsied; the man took her in his arms and led her around the ballroom. "Is everything settled with the sprites and fairie lights, my dear?"

"Yes, everything has been resolved, the fairie lights were upset because the sprites were overrunning their territory in the firey's forest, and they are a small race as it is and they don't have that big of a territory compared to the sprites."

"The sprites there must be cousins to the fairies that reside at the entrance gates to the labyrinth. They are aggressive little creatures, it's no wonder the fairie lights are complaining about the sprites."

"That's very true, my love. Did I tell you that you look absolutely ravishing in this dress?"

"I do believe that is what Fable was trying to achieve when she designed it. I see it passes your approval," she said with an amused voice. She could see him undressing her with his eyes at that moment and couldn't help herself. "You had better watch your eyes, my lord, for they give way to your inner desires, and I wish to stay at the ball until everyone else has gone home, which means you shall not need to be undressing me so with those eyes of yours. When we are back home I shall decide if you have behaved enough to play tonight." He groaned softly in annoyance, how was he to managed when she looked so damn tasteful to him. The music faded and everyone came to a halt as Lord Gerald appeared and began to speak.

"I would first like to thank everybody for coming to my daughter's ball, and secondly I wish to thank everyone who had bestowed these gifts upon her. You are all probably wondering what we have decided to name our daughter," he paused just for the effect then began again. "Her name is Selena Oakland, Princess of Lakeview."

The guests clapped loudly as he finished his speech, Lady Saturnalia stood up and raised her hand for silence, her other hand holding a small bundle close to her chest. "I too would like to thank you for coming and for the wondrous gifts you have so generously bestowed upon our child. But now dance and be merry for the evening is young."

Music began to play again, a smooth mysterious melody; the rhythm was slow and steady. Derik led Starr around the sea of dancing bodies; he never once let his eyes stray from her, even when she had laid her head upon his shoulder. He was totally entranced by her beauty, he loved to hear her talk about the things she has learned of the world, and the things she knew of the Aboveground world as well. They were oblivious to Starr's parents dancing near them, and only vaguely heard the hello they said as they passed by the dancing teenagers. Sarah gave a soft laugh at the two teens, she knew that feeling they felt, she felt it every day with the man that was holding her in his arms right at that moment.

"I do believe they are quite smitten with each other," she whispered to him. "Even though she and don't know that they are to be married to each other in a year's time. That's a good thing; don't you think so, my love?"

"I do believe it is, the better they get along now before they are married the better their marriage shall be."

Starr stared dreamily up at her dance partner and found him staring back down at her, they waltzed gracefully around the room with glazed looks upon their eyes. Jareth and Sarah, and Derik's family watched the two children from afar.

Toby had begun dancing with Reenie, Enduress' middle child; they made small talk, telling what had been happening over the years since Reenie's mother wouldn't let the girls come to balls. Reenie was the same age as Starr, and the two girls hadn't gotten a chance to know each other the last time they were within the same walls, so Toby told her all about his sister and her soon to be announced engagement to Derik. Reenie was thrilled for her cousin. The song ended and the two cousins went their separate ways for two more years when they would become engaged and a year after that would be getting married. The High King and Queen sat on their thrones at their castle watching the festivities through a crystal ball, seeing the love in Starr's eyes for Derik, and the attraction between Toby and Reenie while they were dancing.

"It would seem like we should be expecting some great-grandchildren in the near future by both of our eldest grandchildren, Fable," Daioh said looking up at his wife.

"It would seem so, my dear husband," Fable said returning his knowing glace. "And it's going to be so much fun."

As predicted the spring after Starr and Derik got married their first child was born, a girl, they named her Mary in the memory of Starr's Aboveground grandmother.

Jacob and Midnight's magic increased significantly so they were able to start charming objects.

Jared was now talking in full sentences and walking about the castle with his parents. "My dear, where had little Jared gotten off to now," Sarah said looking around the throne room for the third time that day. "I swear he's a slippery little thing for such a young age."

"He's about to be four, my love," Jareth said handing her a crystal showing the boy walking down a hallway in the royal sleeping hall. "Remember how the twins were at that age?"

"Unfortunately yes, I remember," Sarah groaned.

Jareth pulled her against him, her back against his chest, leaning down he started to kiss her neck. She leaned back into his shoulder enjoying the velvet of his lips against her sensitive skin and giving a low moan that let him know just how much she was enjoying his touch; he nipped her neck then with his teeth making her give a sudden 'eep'.

"My dear, I do believe that was uncalled for."

"Really? Well, you are really going to think what I do next is uncalled for if that was," the Goblin King said with a wicked gleam in his eyes; holding her tightly against himself he transported them out of the throne room and into their bedroom, and for the rest of the afternoon the sounds of their pleasure and love could be heard throughout the castle.

THE END


End file.
